If I Were a Boy
by BloodyGlaiveDragon
Summary: Mikan thought she had no family left, but then a man, Kazumi Yukihira, shows up saying that he is her uncle and that he wants her to attend his school. There's a slight problem though. It's a boarding school for males. 1st fanfic O: Rated T just in case.
1. SummaryCharacter List

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Gakuen Alice or any of the characters from Gakuen Alice. I only own the characters I made up myself(If I decide to insert them that is).

**Summary:**Mikan was staying with Hotaru after her Jii-chan died, making her think that she had no family left, but then a man, Kazumi Yukihira, shows up saying that he is her uncle and that he wants her to attend his school, Alice Academy. Mikan gets hooked when she learns that the academy's volleyball program is top-notch, but Hotaru does not like the idea of Mikan going off alone. After some negotiations, Mikan and Hotaru both agree to his proposition, but there is a slight problem. Alice Academy is a high school for boys. That is when the wheels of fate decided to take a wild spin. This is my first fanfic. Rated T just in case.

**Title:**If I Were A Boy…

**Characters:**

_**Mikan Sakura/Minoru Sakura**_**- **Volleyball fanatic. Agreedto live/attend her uncle's school, but under the condition that she attend as a boy. Mikan has an innocent nature, and may not appear too bright, but is actually a genius. She can be a crybaby when she is alone, but more or less happens to be an optimistic individual.

_**Hotaru Imai/Hoshi Imai**_**- **Mikan's best friend. Actually finished all schooling at the age of ten, but still attends school to be with Mikan. Cold personality, but has a soft spot for Mikan despite always insulting her. Hobbies include upgrading her baka gun, making money, and blackmailing people.

_**Natsume Hyuuga**_**- **A freshman boy that is gifted in looks, smarts, and athletic abilities. Natsume gets irritated easily, which discourages people from approaching him, besides his friends, and family. Started playing volleyball in his first year of middle school, and is considered a prodigy.

_**Ruka Nogi**_- Half French, half Japanese freshman boy. Natsume's childhood/best friend. He has a very friendly personality, and is almost always found smiling. He has a white rabbit named Usagi, which Ruka usually carries around with him. Started volleyball the same time that Natsume did.

_**Kokoro Yome**_- A freshman boy who is always smiling. He can be quite troublesome because he can be a bit nosy, but nonetheless is a reliable friend. Did not start volleyball until his second year of middle school, which was where he met Ruka and Natsume. Has a crush on Sumire Shouda.

_**Youichi Hijiri**_- A freshman boy who turns out to be Mikan's childhood friend, and also her roommate. Went to the same middle school as Natsume and the others, but did not join volleyball the first two years due to health conditions. Spent the last year being personally trained by Natsume in volleyball.

_**Tsubasa Andou**_- An upperclassman in the 11th grade. Mikan's uncle introduces him as her adopted cousin. He has a star tattoo under his left eye that he thinks makes him look cool. His carefree and mischievous personality often gets him into trouble. Captain of the basketball team, and boyfriend of Misaki Harada.

_**Kazumi Yukihira**_- The Director of Alice Academy, and is also the older brother of Mikan's father, which makes him her uncle.

_**Yuu Tobita**_- Hotaru's roommate at Alice Academy. He is a shy, but friendly freshman boy, whose intelligence is just about equal to Hotaru and Mikan's. He is their class representative.

_**Narumi L. Anjo**_- Mikan and the gang's homeroom teacher, but he almost always skips out on his duties. Always wears flamboyant clothing to go along with his feminine appearance, which creeps out a lot of his students.

**Other Characters:**(because I'm too lazy to keep putting descriptions. Sorry if I miss some that are in the story, but not listed. I'll add as I go on.):

Subaru Imai

Luna Koizumi

Akira Tonouchi

Sumire Shouda

Aoi Hyuuga

Misaki Harada

Nobara Ibaragi

Nonoko Ogasawara

Anna Umenomiya

Kaname Sonou

Persona/Rei Serio

Jinno

Mochiage

Hayami

**Characters that I own:**

_**Satoru Kouki:**_Vocal coach that helps Mikan get her voice to a more huskier and less obvious tone.

_**Tsuyoshi Nakagawa:**_ Volleyball coach. Likes to refer to 'Minoru' as "kid".


	2. Chapter 1: Unexpected

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Gakuen Alice or any of the characters from Gakuen Alice. I only own the characters I made up myself(If I decide to insert them that is).

**Chapter 1: Unexpected **

**[Mikan's POV]**

If I were a boy… I would go all out and try every sport in the freaking world. Or one.

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[General POV, 9:46PM]

A girl with hazel orbs bounced around in her chair. Fiddling with her auburn locks, she tried not to disturb her friend who was busily tapping away at her laptop. Sighing, the auburn locked girl decided to ask a question. "Ne, Hotaru. What do you think is the greatest thing about life?"

Hotaru peered at her over the laptop with an expressionless face. "Money." Bending her head so that her short raven hair covered her amethyst eyes, she resumed typing. Choosing to speak again, she said, "Speaking of money, Mikan, you owe me 1400 yen."

Laughing nervously, the brunette averted hazel orbs from her raven haired friend. Fidgeting, Mikan squirmed in her seat. "Well, what if, say… A girl really loved volleyball, and she wanted to attend a certain boarding school just for the excellent volleyball program?"

"I'd say that she had better have the money and the smarts to get in. I highly doubt that any boarding school would take an idiot in as a student, and the fees would be pretty high."

Mikan puffed angrily and stood up. "I am NOT an idiot! I ranked second in our middle school, after you! How rude! As for the money… I-I don't know."

Hotaru stopped typing and glanced at Mikan with her blank expression. "You better hope for a miracle. Moreover, are you okay?"

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[Mikan's POV]

I noticed that she had chose to ignore the last thing of what I said.

Hotaru had stopped typing and glanced in my direction. "You better hope for a miracle", she said. Her next words took me by surprise. "Moreover, are you okay?"

Of course, I knew exactly what she meant by that last line. Despite her expressionless face, her eyes said it all. The concern written in them made me want to cry sooo bad. You see, my grandfather died three weeks ago, and it was right at the end of school. He was the only family I had left, since my parents were in a plane accident when I was four.

I slipped into the confines of my mind, thinking about my memories of the past month.

_I wondered why I did not see him during the graduation ceremony, but immediately afterwards, my neighbor had rushed up saying that I should get to the hospital. Grandfather had been found collapsed on the front porch of our house, with a low pulse._

_Overhearing what the neighbor had told me, Hotaru had pulled me to her older brother's car, demanding to be taken to the hospital._

_He looked so frail and pale. I couldn't do anything except close my eyes and repeat "Jii-chan" over and over, like a chant. Hotaru had to shoot me with her baka gun to get me to realize that Jii-chan had his eyes opened. _

_Smiling weakly at me, he held my hand and said, "Congratulations on graduating junior high, Mikan. All that is left is to follow your heart. I'm sure… Your parents would be happy with whatever decisions you make, and so would I…"_

"_No! Stop talking like you're going to leave me alone! You can't go, Jii-chan… Don't go!" No matter how much I pleaded, his eyelids started to close, and with a whispered "I love you", they had closed completely. _

_Subaru Imai, Hotaru's older brother, stepped forward and checked grandfather's pulse. With a frown, he stepped back and squeezed my shoulder. I knew that couldn't be a good sign. Hotaru's brother had never shown any concern to me before. I slumped to the floor, still holding Jii-chan's hand. Subaru decided to step out of the room to get a nurse._

_Hotaru had come up to me and gently pried my fingers from Jii-chan's hand. She pulled me into a hug to comfort me, but I felt too numb to hug back. The nurses came in and gasped, and immediately started their murmurs of sympathy. That's when I started wailing. In the end, they had to sedate me, and send me to Hotaru's house for the meantime. _

_It took a few days, but I was finally able to calm down for the funeral. Each person that showed up expressed their love for my grandfather, and it meant a lot to me. After that, I stopped talking and smiling, up until a few days ago. Hotaru couldn't stand my gloominess anymore and had shot me multiple times with her baka gun; she even resorted to screaming at me just to get me back to my usual self. Typical Hotaru… What would I do without her._

I felt eyes on me, and realized I had not answered Hotaru's question. Looking straight at her, I smiled brightly and said, "Thanks to you, I'm better." To my surprise, she smiled back with relief (although a small one).

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[Next Day, 11:05AM]

**[Mikan's POV]**

I awoke to a light knocking on the door to Hotaru's room. Her mother came in and beckoned to me saying that I had a visitor. Who would want to see me? Without delay, I got out of bed and grabbed things to take to the bathroom so I could at least look somewhat decent.

When I arrived downstairs, I immediately spotted a man with light blonde hair. Sensing my presence, he turned around. He looked young, but the air surrounding him told me that he was older than he seemed to be. Maybe it was just the suit he had on.

I saw shock in his blue eyes, which he quickly smothered. The man stared at me for a minute or two. Nodding at me in greeting, he brought out his right hand and stretched it towards me. Huh? What does he wan- Oh. Handshake!

After staring for a couple of seconds, I brought out my own hand and shook his.

"…"

The man released my hand and asked, "Mikan Sakura?" I nodded and he continued to speak so he could introduce himself. "I am Kazumi Yukihira, Director of Alice Academy; a boarding school."

I twitched. Isn't that my f-?

"Your father was my little brother," he continued.

"I… I see." I looked up at him only to notice that he was staring at me again. Feeling my face go warm, I turned my gaze to the floor. He has nice shoes. I was so absorbed with his shoes that I did not realize he had started speaking again. Hotaru's mother nudged me lightly with her elbow. "I-I'm sorry, you were saying?"

I felt him smile a bit. "I said, that I received a call from a private investigator that your grandfather -sorry- had passed away quite recently. Since I am your uncle, I thought that I would come see you myself and ask if you would want to enroll at Alice Academy. You would be exempted from school fees, and I will pay for all of the things you need throughout your stay. Although, there would be certain… conditions."

He had me investigated?

That was when Hotaru decided to step in. She looked at Yukihira with her usual cold expression, nodded with acknowledgement, then moved to stand next to me. I assumed that she had analyzed him and found him to her liking. "If Mikan listens to your conditions and accepts, then I feel that I must put in a condition of my own… Depending on the circumstances."

Yukihira glanced at the raven haired girl with mild curiosity, and simply nodded. With a slight sigh, he mumbled, "Then let us discuss this matter right away."

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**Was that okay for a first chapter? I know it was a bit short .**

**Please review :3 No flames please!**


	3. Chapter 2: Vocal Coach

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Gakuen Alice or any of the characters from Gakuen Alice. I only own the characters I made up myself.

**Chapter Two: Vocal Coach**

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[Hotaru's POV]

If I were a boy… I would get dirt on every person in the stupid academy. It's a fast way of making money… A LOT of money. Of course, I'd research every single person anyway whether anyone liked it or not.

I turned my attention to the brunette messing with her newly cut boyish locks. When she noticed me in the mirror staring at her, she broke into a happy grin. That idiot.

"Hotaru, are you sure about this? Do you really want to go with me? I mean… We have to pretend we're boys after all." Her concerned expression ticks me off. Why is she thinking about me at a time like this?

"Idiot. I made my decision and I'm sticking to it. Besides… Think of all the material for blackmail I can get." I grinned evilly, and saw Mikan roll her eyes at the mirror. "At least your uncle is letting us go a week early so that we can get used to the place." Watching Mikan go over to her suitcase to close it, I smiled, and then turned away.

Then I remembered. How could I forget? Glancing at the brunette again, I said, "Mikan… You need to work on your speaking. I'll take you to a professional tomorrow and every day before we need to leave for the academy. Your voice is too girly and high, and knowing you, you'll do something to get caught right away at the school if we don't do something beforehand."

I finished packing my laptop and other devices in one suitcase, and turned to close the other one, which was filled with boys clothing. Good thing I had a box made of steel with my feminine products in it. There was no way anyone could get past the finger pad that guarded the entrance.

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[Mikan's POV]

I froze. What did she say? Professional? Panicking, I squeaked, "H-H-Hotaru! I have to have surgery performed? N-No way, no way!" I looked at Hotaru in time to see her eyes do a quick roll and put on her what-an-idiot look.

"Are you stupid? That costs way too much money. We're going to take you to a vocal coach. He's cheap because he doesn't have too many clients, but he is the real deal. His name is Kouki. Satoru Kouki. Kouki is known for fast results in getting voices to change. A week is his best record, and that is all the time we can spare. Besides, I've got dirt on him, so he is letting you train for free."

Voice changing? Wait… "Wait a minute. Me only? What about you?" I looked at amethyst eyes with worry.

"Because I'm not an idiot," was all that she replied.

I sweat dropped. Sure, I may be clumsy at times, and not get when people are being sarcastic to me, but she didn't have to put it like that.

Sighing, I finished packing everything I needed. Good thing Hotaru dragged me to go shopping for everything, and made me pack DAYS before we would be due at Alice Academy. If she hadn't, I would probably rush around last minute, and get shot by her baka gun for sure.

A happy thought popped into my head. "Ne, it's great that Alice Academy's volleyball program is first-class, right? And their academic is topnotch on top of that. It's like a school for elite males!"

Hotaru smirked, "That's because it IS an elite school for males. Which makes all the research I can do all worthwhile."

My lips twitched. Already I could see what the raven haired girl was thinking. Heck, I saw it in her eyes. The money symbols were unmistakable.

I cleared my throat. "Do you think we should turn in for the night? It's starting to get late." The violet colored clock on the wall read 11:39pm.

Hearing Hotaru grunt in agreement, I ran downstairs to say goodnight to her family. She didn't even bother coming down. Instead, she had folded a piece of paper and attached it to a small robot. Sweat dropping, Hotaru's family and I watched the robot come in, drop the note on Subaru's lap, and go back upstairs.

Ms. Imai laughed when she read the note. She was still laughing when she turned her kind eyes to me and said, "Mikan, I heard you two talking upstairs. You don't have to go to the vocal coach if you don't want to. I'm sure you can manage just fine without one."

I giggled. "Don't worry. I trust Hotaru's judgment. Besides, she's right. The pitch of my voice is too girly. I just hope the training will actually pull through. Goodnight." Bowing my head, I turned and fled up the stairs to the bedroom that I share with my best friend.

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[Next Day, 8:00AM]

**[Mikan's POV]**

"Okay, remind me again why we're here so early in the morning?" I peered around at my surroundings. Oh great, everything is so… colorful. Even the walls are painted in a tie-dye style. The first thing that came to my mind was the word 'hippie'.

The amethyst orbs that belonged to the girl sitting next to me observed the room with an emotionless expression, but her eyes said that she was obviously disgusted. Hotaru sat in a stiff position on the couch, like she would have a heart attack if she moved unnecessarily. I stifled a giggle, but the glare I received from my friend told me that she had heard me.

"We're here in this… atrocious room, because you need the training. I don't care if you die from stress here, but I WILL drag you back to life, because you WILL get this done no matter what it takes."

Grinning, I replied with confidence, "I can do it Hotaru! Just you wait!" Maybe it was just my imagination, but I thought I heard her mutter the words "You better you idiot".

Hugging the raven haired girl, I giggled happily. I felt her cringe and then,

_BAKA!_

"Mou, you didn't have to shoot me with that thing!" I whined. Smirking, Hotaru took out a handkerchief to polish her baka gun.

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[General POV]

A man with purple shaded sunglasses and tie-dyed clothing stepped into room. The two girls sitting on the couch jumped when he cleared his throat, for they had not noticed him come in since his clothing matched the walls. His curly silver hair was tied back in a ponytail. When he took off his sunglasses, curiosity filled emerald orbs peered down at the two girls.

Smiling, he introduced himself. "Hello again, Hotaru… and you must be Mikan, am I correct? Well, I am Satoru Kouki. I understand that you need to get your voice deeper. However, if you go with my training schedule, there is a high chance that you could ruin the part of your vocal chords that let you do high notes, and never be able to go back to how your original voice sounds. Do you understand?"

Mikan nodded, but she frowned while doing so. Hotaru had not told her that she most likely would never be able to go back to her original voice.

Kouki continued, sensing that the brunette understood his words. "Now, you cannot go through this process by simply speaking, so I'm going to have to push to your limits in singing. Hotaru told me that you are most likely in the soprano range, but getting you somewhere in the alto range is our goal. We need to get your voice to be husky enough so that when you go back to being a normal girl, you'll be fine, and when you live your life as a "boy", you can pass."

He tossed a folder with a schedule in it at Mikan.

With widened eyes, Mikan scanned through the contents of the folder. Hotaru looked over Mikan's shoulder only to have her mouth form into a grim line.

Hazel eyes gazed at Kouki with disbelieving eyes. "S-sure, there's three meals a day in here, but only four hours of sleep every night?"

The man sighed, for he had expected that exact reaction. "Well, you only have a week for this, so we have to push you to your limits. I know it doesn't sound fair, but the celebrities and idols have it far worse than this."

Hotaru scrunched her eyebrows. "He's right, Mikan. Those are the prices to pay to get your voice ready in the limited time that we have. Will you go through with the training, knowing the consequences?"

Sighing with defeat, the brunette sat in silence with her face in her hands for a few minutes. When she raised her head to look at her best friend and the vocal coach, pure determination was the only thing left in her hazel orbs. "I will," was all that she said.

"There's one thing I don't understand though. Why are there two hours of running everyday in the schedule? Not like it's a problem for Mikan, but still." Amethyst eyes glanced at her friend before shifting back to the man in front of them.

"Ah, that's to keep up her stamina. It's also a method I use on clients as a breathing exercise. It's also so that she'll get tired more easily."

Hotaru frowned at the last sentence, but otherwise said nothing.

Mikan chose this time to speak up. "Shouldn't I start right away?" Taking a swift second to examine the schedule one more time, she continued, "Well I already did the first three things on the list. Breakfast, run, and shower."

Smiling with amusement, Kouki agreed with the brunette. "Then let us go down to one of the practice rooms to get cracking on that voice." He turned and walked out the room, with the two girls trailing after him.

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[Mikan's POV]

Whoa, what is with this practice room? The rest of the house is so vibrant, but this one room is so… devoid of emotions and color. It's highly uncomfortable, almost suffocating.

I stared at the black and white tiles and walls with an unhappy expression. Hearing a quiet intake of breath to my right, I frowned deeper. This room must really be unexpected if it can pull surprise out of Hotaru of all people.

"Ahem." Holy marshmallows. Oh, it's only Kouki-san. "You two must be perplexed. Don't worry, this is just another method."

He strolled over to the inky colored grand piano that stood in the middle of the room and sat down on a bench, gesturing to Hotaru and I that we should sit on the stools next to where he sat. Kouki-san's face now lacked any happiness, and instead was filled with seriousness, and something I couldn't quite put my finger on.

"Now Mikan, let's see how low your notes can go." I swear I heard a demented sounding laugh coming from him, and I felt shivers crawling up and down my spine.

I opened my mouth to sing scales. This was going to be one heck of a week.

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**I'm thinking about skipping the training part entirely, and send Hotaru and Mikan to the airport at the beginning of the next chapter, and just describe the training so I can get the story going.**

**Anyways, please review, and no flames. Thank you! :3**


	4. Chapter 3: A New Start

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Gakuen Alice or the characters from Gakuen Alice. I only own the characters that I made up myself.

BloodyGlaiveDragon: Thanks to the people that reviewed the first two chapters. It gave me a burst of encouragement :D I hope you guys keep enjoying the story.

**Chapter 3: A New Start**

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[Hotaru's POV]

If I were a boy… I would fix all of the idiots in this world. No, scratch that. If I did that, there wouldn't be anything for me to use for blackmail, and there would be lesser resources for money. Sigh.

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[1:00PM]

**[General POV]**

"Whoa, who are they?"

"They're so cute!" "Look at the one with purple eyes, he's so cool!" "No, the one with the cap and innocent expression is better." "Hey you two, look here!" "Oh my gawsh, one of them looked! Kyaaa~"

There were whispers everywhere as two teenage boys walked through the airport. One boy had short raven hair, and wore black jeans with a purple hoodie to match his eyes. He had an aloof aura which made the women in the surrounding areas think he was "cool".

The other boy had a curious expression on his face, and the earring he wore on his left ear glinted as they passed under the harsh lights overhead. His green, long-sleeved shirt, and dark blue jeans matched well with the auburn locks sticking out from underneath his baseball cap.

As the squealing and whispering progressed, the latter boy turned pink in the face. He grabbed onto his friend's sleeve. In a somewhat masculine husky voice, he stammered, "H-H-Hot-"

"I told you, it's Hoshi. Ho-SHI. And just ignore what you're hearing around you. These disguises must actually be working, so we better be grateful."

The two boys reached the gate where their plane would be waiting, and showed their ID cards to the lady at the counter who gasped with shock. "R-Right this way! The pilot and plane are ready to go whenever you are." She scurried away down through a door leading outside, where the plane was waiting. The lads hurried after her so that they wouldn't be left behind.

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[Twenty minutes later]

**[Mikan's POV]**

"Wow, this is amazing! How did we get a private plane all to ourselves? Us, of all people?" The brunette gasped in awe as she looked around at the plane.

"I have my ways."

Sweat dropping, I laughed. Of course she did. I didn't miss the glint in Hot- I mean, HOSHI's eyes.

"Really Hoshi, this is just… Wow! And FABULOUS!" I was so caught up with how amazing the plane was, that I failed to notice that Hotaru was trying to talk to me.

"Minoru."

"…"

_BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! _"Minoru!"

Rubbing my head, I whined, "Owww… Why'd you have to go and do that for, Hotaru? I mean Hoshi."

Cold amethyst eyes glared at me. "Have you forgotten that your name is now Minoru? And NEVER say the word 'fabulous' again."

I nodded frantically at her. Clearing my throat, I asked, "Ne, Hotaru. Is my voice really more suitable for a boy? Did the training really work?" Tears of worry threatened to spill out of the corners of my eyes.

"Idiot. Of course it did. I wouldn't have gone with you the whole week if I had the slightest doubt that Kouki would fail." Hotaru cleared her throat. "Y'know, it wouldn't kill you to say the word 'dude'. I mean, really man, how do you expect to pass yourself off as a guy if you have tears in your eyes whenever you get worried? Well, the chicks at the sister school would be drooling at your feet anyway, with that husky voice."

How does she do it? It was perfect! Her speech, voice… Everything was outstanding! Well, that's Hotaru for you. She works miracles like it's second nature.

If she can pull it off then I, Mika-… Minoru Sakura can pull it off as well! "Okay it's my turn!" I raised my hand in the air near Hotaru. "Yo dude, wassup! High five for being hot and starting an exciting new life, man!"

"…"

The raven haired "boy" in front of me blinked. "Minoru, that was way too enthusiastic. Ugh whatever, maybe some people at the academy will actually find you funny. Not that your optimism and weirdness ever stopped you from making friends before."

"Aw, don't be like that. Don't leave me hangin'." The only response I got in return was a slap to my hand so that I hit the armrest of my seat. I howled in pain.

After a few minutes of silence, Hotaru demanded that I take her mp3 player out from her backpack. Rummaging through her backpack for the music device, my eyes widened at what I saw inside. "Ho-Hotaru… Why do you have a lot of photos of me in your bag, and there are prices on the back of each one?" What was she going to do with those? And there are even multiple copies! I can't believe this!

My best friend raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you found them? Those are just photos to further set your identity in stone. We'll say that the person in the photos is your identical twin sister named Mikan. And so that I get some benefit from this, I'm going to sell those pictures to students… For a price."

I should've known. The money symbols were back in her eyes again.

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[Half an hour later]

**[Hotaru's POV]**

The intercom beeped, and then we heard the pilot's voice. "If you look out the windows, you will see three islands that line up in the shape of a triangle. That is where Hanahime Academy, Alice Academy, and Central Town are."

I had to admit, each island was large. Not to mention that the campuses are huge! And… If there are huge campuses, that means a high population of students will be attending. And the more students attending, the more money I can make. Cha-ching!

I could feel that idiot's gaze on me. That meant Mikan would be speaking any second now.

She did. "Now that I think about it, why are you going through the process of disguising as a boy to attend the school with me, when you could attend Hanahime Academy an island away? The islands are really close together."

Smirking, I replied, "It's more of a challenge. I can do research on everyone from the inside, and take photos of the male students and sell them to the girls at the sister school. I could do vice versa, too." Man, was I happy just thinking about it! Our stay at the academy was going to be an interesting one, I could feel it in my bones.

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[2:00PM]

**[General POV]**

Hoshi Imai (Hotaru) and Minoru Sakura (Mikan), departed the small airport, when they saw a blonde woman holding a sign with their names on it. As they approached further, the two realized that the person was in fact, a man… Just in flashy clothing.

The raven haired boy frowned when the man started speaking, because his voice sounded too cheery, and like he was going to burst into song any moment.

"Hello, hello~ Welcome! You two must be the students I've heard about from Director Yukihira. You can call me Narumi-sensei, since I'll be the homeroom teacher for your class. What are you waiting for? Come on, come on, let me drive you up to the dormitories so I can show you your rooms. You'll have to drop your stuff off first before going to see Kazu-chan." With that, the blonde man flounced his way over to a bright green car.

Hoshi inwardly cringed, while Minoru laughed. They put their stuff into the trunk of Narumi's car and got into the backseats.

When Narumi started the car, Hoshi sighed, his amethyst eyes staring out the window. All he wanted was quiet, but it seemed that the teacher and the boy sitting next to him would not be giving him peace.

"Yo, Narumi-sensei! This place is even huger than what it looked like from the plane! And so much more cooler!" Hazel orbs looked excitedly at the passing scenery.

The man turned his head and flashed a proud grin. "You know it! I love it here, the air is clean, beach on every shore, and the island where the town is happens to be am~azing. Everything is absolutely fabulous!"

Hearing the word "fabulous" come out of the man's mouth made Hoshi frown with disgust.

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[Mikan's POV]

"Whoa! Are these the dormitories? They're so… rich-looking! Dude, Hoshi! Are you seeing this?"

Okay, I guess you could say I was more than excited. Heck, I wanted to run around the whole island yelling "YAHOOOO", except anyone that happened to be around would see, and I didn't want that.

Now, the inside of the dormitories were just… WOW. It was mind-blowing on the inside and out. My room and Hotaru's happened to be on the third floor of the building we were assigned to.

"Let's see, let's see… Where is my nameplate… Narumi-sensei said that I'm assigned to room 3... 0... Ah, there it is! 305!" Using the key that the friendly blonde teacher had given me, I unlocked to door to my new room. I wasn't disappointed. I guess the word "room" means "suite" here.

The suite consisted of a large kitchen, an even bigger living room, and from three doors I counted, I assumed they led to the bedrooms and bathroom. I found my room easily, since there was a nameplate next to one of the three doors. Opening it, I flung my bags in and shut the door again.

Hmm, who's going to be rooming with me? I guess I could just go look at the other nameplate. When I reached the door and looked at the nameplate I laughed.

"Hehe. This guy has the same name as my childhood friend. Youichi Hijiri. What a coinky-dink!" Looking down at my watch, I realized that Narumi-sensei and Hotaru would be waiting for me downstairs so that we could report to Kazumi-san. I fled the suite, locked it, and ran to the first floor, where Hotaru would no doubt be waiting to shoot me with her baka gun.

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Eesh. Sorry if this chapter wasn't as good as the first two. At least they are on academy grounds now.

**Please review, no flames! I'll start working on the fourth chapter when I wake up. Most likely, I'll end up making Mikan meet Youichi first, after they report to Kazu. Or Natsume first . Maybe, maybe not, I haven't decided yet. :P**


	5. Chapter 4: Roommate

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Gakuen Alice or the characters from Gakuen Alice. I only own the characters that I made up myself.

**Chapter 4: Roommate**

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[Room 305]

**[Youichi's POV]**

If I were a girl… Ah, screw this. Why did that even pop up into my head? How gross.

Hmm… If I remember correctly, wasn't there some noise outside my bedroom?

Walking out of my room, I instantly noticed that I couldn't sense anyone else's presence in the entire place. Don't ask me how I knew nobody was around; I just _knew. _Sixth sense? Who knows.

My eyes shifted to the only other bedroom door besides mine. Frowning, I strolled over and read the nameplate: _Minoru Sakura_.

That's funny. This dude has the same last name as Mikan. Could they be related? Nah, it's just a coincidence. Grinning at my foolishness, my hand reached for the doorknob. Heat still lingered on it.

Head shaking, I chuckled and walked back into my room to take a nap, shutting the door behind me before I flopped onto the large bed.

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[Director's Office, 3:15PM]

**[General POV]**

Blue eyes scanned through the paperwork in front of him. Ruffling his light blonde hair, Kazumi picked up a pen to sign the documents. When he was done, he turned to the computer on his desk and tapped and clicked until he was able to access the student profiles for Alice Academy.

Scrolling down, Kazumi found the names he wanted. _Hoshi Imai and Minoru Sakura_. Clicking on the latter's profile, his lips twitched. "I wonder if having them attend as boys is really a good idea," he sighed.

As if on cue, someone knocked on the door to his office. The door opened to reveal the two "boys" that were on his mind, and -he winced- Narumi.

Narumi's cheery voice then filled the office. "I've brought the students that you asked for Kazu-_chan_~ Ta ta for now~" The man flashed a smile and winked, then left the office, closing the door behind him. The two boys and the Director sweat dropped.

"U-um… Director Yukihi-"

"Please, call me Kazu. Or Kazu-chan… I am your uncle after all, although hearing 'Kazu-chan' come out of Narumi's mouth is a bit too much." Kazumi mumbled the last few words in disgust.

The brown haired lad blushed. "A-all right… Kazu. Anyway, are the preparations for us all done?"

Glancing at the computer screen in front of him, the Director then turned the screen around so that the two boys could see. "Is this information satisfactory?"

Amethyst eyes peered at the data on both boy's profiles. Nodding, he gave a small smile, but then frowned. Clearing his throat, he asked, "What are we going to do when physical examinations come up?"

Mikan/Minoru's uncle regarded Hoshi with a serious expression. "Well, we will face that hurdle when it comes, but I was thinking that I would just call you to my office that day, excusing you from the examination. Or, to make matters easier, I could just call in Subaru Imai as our new school doctor/nurse…" He trailed off, leaving time for the two boys to choose which idea they liked better.

An evil aura could be felt coming from Hoshi. Chuckling darkly, he muttered, "I think I like the latter idea. Send my dear _aniki_ here. If he doesn't want to come quietly, let me know. You should fire your current nurse anyway. He seduces students."

The other two people in the room shivered. Neither one wanted to get on the wrong side of the raven haired boy. Kazumi was the first to recover. "Of course, Imai-san. I trust you. You two should probably get going and start unpacking now. You must be tired."

Nodding, the boys bid the Director farewell, and walked out of the room, but before they closed the door, Kazumi yelled after them, "Minoru, I forgot to mention this, but your roommate is already here!"

"Okay!"

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[3:35PM]

**[Mikan's POV]**

I had told Hotaru about my roommate having the same name as our childhood friend, as we walked away from Kazu's office.

My best friend looked bored, but I could see the tiniest bit of interest in her eyes. She couldn't fool me.

"You mean that silver haired runt with the weak health that always called you nee-chan?" I nodded. "The little boy with stormy blue eyes that you always protected when someone picked on him?" Again I nodded. "I wonder if the name really is just a coincidence." I shrugged.

We had arrived at the suite marked 305. My suite. Unlocking it, I walked in, and noticed that Hotaru followed me. Maybe she's as curious as I am about my roommate.

The noise of a refrigerator shutting could be heard coming from the kitchen. _Step step step_! Holy marshmallows, the person is coming this way! Hotaru stiffened upon hearing the footsteps.

In the next five seconds, a male stepped into the living room, where Hotaru and I stood frozen. And boy did I melt immediately! The first thing that I noticed were the abs, since he had no shirt on. He only wore sweatpants. Man, does this guy have a hot bod! I would have drooled, but then he would be creeped out.

I must've been still staring at his body when he gave a small cough. Turning my gaze to the floor, I mumbled, "I wish I had abs like those."

Hotaru was probably threatening me in her head by now. The owner of the nice abs chuckled. "I worked all last year for these. I'm glad that it paid off. So anyway, one of the two of you must be my roommate."

Finally, I turned my gaze from the floor to the teenaged boy's face. Holy marshmallows! Silver hair, story blue eyes… What th-! My roommate continued talking, disrupting my thoughts. "Well, I a-"

I interrupted him by saying, "Youichi Hijiri." Crap, I just sounded like I was awed. "I… I read the nameplate. And I am M-"

"Minoru Sakura. You aren't the only one that checked out the nameplates." Youichi sounded amused. "Although, I must say, you look familiar. And so does your friend."

Hotaru cleared her throat and took something out of the back pocket of her jeans. It was a picture, which she promptly showed to the silver haired boy. His stormy blue eyes widened, and his mouth opened in surprise. "Hey, I know that girl! That's Mikan!" He now looked confused. "Why are you showing me this?"

In a dead voice, the raven haired girl answered, "You said Minoru looked familiar. _This_ is why. The girl in this picture is his twin sister… Mikan." After Youichi nodded in understanding, she continued. "Now I'll tell you why _I_ look familiar. I am Hoshi Imai, and my twin sister is named Hotaru."

Again, Youichi's eyes widened. "No kidding," he gasped. Shaking his head, he asked, "Wow, this brings back memories. How are they?"

Amethyst eyes sparkled with mischief. "They're fine. Now if you'll excuse us, we will be going to Minoru's room to get him unpacked." I pointed to the door that belonged to my room, and she immediately walked to it.

Following her example, I walked to my door, but then turned around to say, "Ne, nice to meet you, Youichi dude." I heard him mumble a "likewise" before I closed my bedroom door behind me.

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[Hotaru's POV]

"Holy freaking _CRAP_, what am I going to do? It IS him. No coincidence, no mistake, it's HIM!"

"Shut up idiot, before I shoot you with the baka gun."

"But Hota-!"

"It's _Hoshi_."

"But Hoshi, it's Youichi! He already said that I look familiar, and now that you showed him my picture, he might figure out that Mikan is me. And she IS me."

Damn, she's so noisy. Maybe I should just shoot her right now. Her panicking is beginning to give me a headache. "Well you better hope that he takes the bait, and doesn't put two and two together," I snapped.

Mikan looked at me in alarm. About time she noticed that her loud voice was starting to tick me off.

I sighed. "Just don't get caught."

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**Helloooo~ Thanks for reading! I hope this chapter was okay.**

**Special Thanks to: AK (I won't put the full name up, just the initials)**

**Please review, and no flames!**


	6. Chapter 5: Crimson Eyes

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Gakuen Alice or the characters from Gakuen Alice. I only own the characters that I made up myself.

_I dedicate this chapter to my friend RB, since it is her birthday today [: So, happy 16__th__ birthday R~! [8/24/10]_

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**Chapter 5: Crimson Eyes**

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**[One week later, 6:00PM]**

**[Mikan's POV]**

If I were a boy… I would wash my own damn socks, and clothes. Not that I don't already. But seriously, as the students gradually started coming to settle into the dorm over the past week, I swear; every time I went to the laundry room, nobody was there and the place was completely spotless. The damn elite people probably thought they were too good to manage their own clothes.

I walked out of the bathroom ready to start my first day at Alice Academy. A white button-up long-sleeved shirt (I had wrapped my chest up and put a white undershirt over it underneath the first shirt), black sweater vest with the school insignia, and black and blue plaid pants, are what the uniform is made up of.

Youichi passed me on my way to my bedroom, and I grinned when I saw him yawn.

"Oi, shortie." I turned around, and raised my eyebrow.

"I'm not that short!" I growled playfully. I knew he didn't really mean anything by the nickname.

Youichi yawned again, but grinned when he was done. "Think you can go louder this time? I need a jolt, and eating didn't help for crap."

"Sure thing Yo-chan. I'll go get one of my guitars right now." I ran into my room, immediately grabbing my electric guitar.

Wondering what that was all about? Well, I had received two guitars from Kouki-san the night that my vocal training ended. An acoustic guitar, and a dark green electric guitar. He said they were gifts, for being able to complete training without any complaints whatsoever.

Anyway, I was in my room singing my heart out… at six in the morning. Wait, what was the song again? Oh yeah, _Vanilla Twilight _by_ Owl City_. Well, that was four days ago. Youichi was in the kitchen eating breakfast at the table, looking like he was going to fall asleep any minute.

Or so I had thought.

_As soon as my voice died down, ending the song, Youichi had opened my unlocked door and just stood there staring at me with an unreadable expression. And he was very much wide awake._

_Honestly, I thought something was wrong. Maybe my voice came out too girly. No, that couldn't be it. Could it?_

"_Wow. That was… amazing. You should be in a band, or singing professionally. But that would've been even better if someone was playing on a keyboard." The words were quiet, but I had heard the fascination in the tone of his voice._

_I was curious. "Keyboard?"_

_Youichi looked embarrassed as he scratched his head. "Uh… well I err… Play keyboard. I've got it in my room." Then his blue-gray eyes brightened. "I know! I'll pull my keyboard into the living room, and we can have a sort of… jam session." Then he frowned, waiting for my answer._

_Oh my gawkers! He plays keyboard? How cool! There's no way I can say no to him. It's a good idea anyway. _

_I looked at him seriously. "Dude, that would be so awesome. Let's do it!"_

_Man, did we sound amazing. Little did we know, Hotaru had bugged our living room, and recorded the whole "jam session". Anyway, ever since that morning, we made it a routine to do a jam session every morning and night. And whenever we got bored. We hung out at Central Town, and the park a lot together too. Of course, Hotaru went with us._

_We even got Kazu to give us a key to the gym so we could play volleyball. I had to admit, Youichi is really good. I'm glad that his physical condition got better._

A knocking on the doorframe snapped me out of my thoughts and memories. Youichi was shirtless, and had a towel around his neck, preventing the water dripping from his hair from reaching the floor. He yawned again. I guess the shower didn't help either.

"Ay, shortie. Why don't you warm up first so I can wake up before starting?" He asked.

Grunting in approval, I followed him out into the living room with my guitar in hand. After sitting on one of the stools that we had snatched from the lobby downstairs the other day, I strummed my guitar. When I was satisfied, I began singing and got into the beat.

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[Yeah Boy and Doll Face- Pierce the Veil]

_Were you honest when you said_

_I could never leave your bed_

_Wake me up and let me know_

_You're alive_

_And will you fall in love again_

_Is the scent slowly spreading?_

_I've been answering machines_

_All nightNow the doctors dancing in_

_While the ambulances sing_

_Another boy_

_Without a sharper knife_

_The moment that's where_

_I kill the conversation_

_Wrap this up with a knife that loves to feel_

_How do you know how deep to go before it's real_

_Take me home_

_Can I even complicate your breathing?_

_I guess I'm just your average boy_

_This is me_

_With a knife in the back_

_And a grip on the glass, it's cold_

_And I don't want to be here_

_I guess I'm never comfortable or situational_

_Are we losing or beginningTo try a new life without you?_

_The moment that's where_

_I kill the conversation_

_Wrap this up with a lie that I'm enjoying_

_Every minute with myself_

_And she could make hell_

_Feel just like home_

_So I'm never leaving her alone_

_But if your lightning lips aren't mine_

_Then I don't know the awkward stranger to my right_

_She's crying_

_I only need one hand to drive_

_When you're with me_

_You are my getaway_

_Oh, no_

_And don't you ever feel alone?_

_And don't you wish you were_

_Cut the lust tonight_

_Alright, alright, tell me why? _

_MyLittle Mona Lisa told a lie, lie, lie, lie_

_Do you want me?_

_Do you want to let me know that you're okay_

_A diamond gold ring_

_Customized to cut your circulation_

_But I couldn't let you go_

_No, I never let you go, my dear_

_So keep talking'_

_Cause I love to hear your voice_

_To your voice_

_To your voice_

_To your voice again_

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While I was too engrossed with singing and jamming out with my guitar, I failed to notice Youichi had slipped away to open the front door. The buzzer probably didn't reach my senses either.

So as I opened my eyes when the song ended (I hadn't realized they were closed), the first thing I noticed were the pair of crimson orbs staring straight at me.

To say I was startled would have been an understatement.

I fell off of the stool. I landed on my back. Making sure my arms stuck straight out in the air with my guitar clutched in my hands, I freaked out. "Crap!" I immediately checked to see if my Babe was okay. Yes, I named my guitar, so what? "Phew." No scratches, nothing wrong. Good.

My eyes then shifted again to the person sitting on the couch. Of course I would've been startled. Anyone would be if they opened their eyes, and some stranger was staring at then, from no less than two feet away.

A soft chuckling could be heard coming from the kitchen. Holy freaking crap, I am going to butcher Youichi's hair when he goes to sleep tonight.

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[Natsume's POV]

Ruka, my blonde, blue-eyed best friend and I had nothing better to do, so we decided to go bother Youichi before we headed to our class. Koko and Mochu wanted to come, but then they remembered that they forgot to put their math books in their backpacks. So we headed to Youichi's room without them.

"Ne, Natsume. I wonder what Youichi's roommate is like. He sounded pretty happy when we talked to him on the phone the other day. Said something about amazing talent." Ruka pet his bunny Usagi while saying this. "I wonder what he meant."

"Hn." To be honest, I didn't give a damn. We had arrived outside the door. I pushed my finger on the buzzer.

"…" I pushed the buzzer again impatiently.

That time, the door opened a bit. Youichi's head poked out and his eyes brightened when he saw us. "Hey Natsume! Ruka! Sup guys!"

I raised an eyebrow. Flowing from the partially opened door, I could hear _Yeah Boy and Doll Face _by _Pierce the Veil _playing. But it sounds more melodious than the real thing, so that must mean someone is inside singing.

"Oh right, come inside. The noise you hear is just my roommate. He's talented, right?" Youichi grinned at Ruka and I.

Ruka nodded appreciatively.

Damn, even _I_ was impressed. "Oi, what is that dude's name?" I kept my voice at a monotonous tone.

"Minoru Sakura. He sings on a professional level, plays guitar, and is going to try for the volleyball team just like us. We were going to have a morning jam session…" Looking at his watch, Youichi muttered, "Shit. It's already 6:40? Damn, there won't be time then. Anyway, just sit down on the couch. Minoru should be done soon. I'm gonna go finish getting dressed." He then scurried over to his bedroom door and slammed it shut.

Ruka and I did as Youichi suggested. My eyes widened a fraction before going back to normal. Wow, this guy can really jam. If I was a girl, I would have called his performance _beautiful_. But that would've sounded awkward as a guy, so I kept my mouth shut. But really, he's got to be only 5'3"! _This_ guy is trying out for _volleyball_? And he looks so… _Innocent_.

The Minoru dude opened his eyes when the song ended, and he saw me. Crap, I was staring at him. And he _panicked. _The dude even fell off of the fucking stool he was on. He fell on his back, and it looked like it hurt, but those hazel eyes only showed concern for his guitar.

That was when I heard Youichi chuckle from the kitchen. When did he get there? I continued staring at him.

"Oi," I said. "You Youichi's roommate?" The dude nodded. "I'm Natsume Hyuuga." He nodded again.

"I-I'm Minoru Sakura." He stammered. Wow. This Minoru kid is kinda cute. Oh ugh, gross. I did NOT just think of that. I'll forget I ever thought of that.

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[Youichi's POV]

I chuckled when I went into the kitchen to grab a water bottle. Of course I had seen Minoru fall. Maybe I shouldn't have told Natsume and Ruka to sit on the couch. But it was pretty funny though.

Walking back into living room, I said, "Yo guys, we should probably get going. We shouldn't be late on the first day." The three of them nodded at me.

Minoru rushed into his room to put away his electric guitar, and came back out with his backpack, and duffel bag. "Let's go," he said.

When he walked up to me he said, "I'm going to butcher your hair when you sleep tonight, Yo-_chan_." Oops, I guess I made him angry.

"Sorry shortie," I replied.

My roommate grunted in annoyance, as he walked out the door. We all followed him out.

Ruka must have sensed Minoru getting annoyed, so he went and introduced himself. "Hello Minoru. My name is Ruka Nogi. Just call me Ruka, and I hope we can be friends. I'm sorry we startled you. That performance was amazing though. How long did it take you to be able to sing and play guitar like that?"

I laughed inwardly. Ruka sure has his way with people. It must be the charm that has the fan girls crazy all the time.

The hazel eyes shifted downwards in embarrassment. "Um… Y-Y-You wouldn't believe me. L-Let's just say I learned really quickly."

To my surprise, Natsume spoke up. "How long?"

Chuckling, I said, "Ah guys, give it up. Mi-chan here refused to tell me how long it took, so I don't see why he would tell you." Believe me, the glare that Minoru sent me… You wouldn't want to see. It made me shiver actually. I silently prayed that Ruka and Natsume wouldn't bring up the subject again.

Blue eyes looked at me in understanding. Ruka patted Minoru on the shoulder. "Well, at least we're in the same class. We'll introduce you to a couple of our other friends. They would have gone with us to your guys' room, but they forgot something."

Minoru smiled at him.

By now, we were out of the dorm building, just outside. Ah, Hoshi is here. Apparently Minoru noticed the stoic, raven haired boy that was just as short as he is, because he practically jumped at him.

_BAKA!_

Hoshi's icy voice spoke. "I told you not to do that, idiot."

"Eheh. Sorry Hoshi, I couldn't help it.

Everyone sweat dropped.

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[Mikan's POV]

"Yo, Hoshi. Isn't it great that we're in the same class?" I asked happily.

"Great." Ouch, she didn't sound the least bit enthusiastic. Oh well. Haha.

That was when two boys our age came running up, calling Natsume's name. Must be the friends that Ruka mentioned. One was almost bald, and the other had a huge smile.

"Hn." I guess that was the only kind of greeting they were going to get from him. How cold.

Youichi grinned at them. "Hey Mochu. Koko. Meet my roommate, Minoru Sakura." He pointed at me. "And Hoshi Imai." He pointed at Hotaru.

They nodded and introduced themselves. The almost bald one went first. "My name is Mochiage. Just call me Mochu. Everyone else does." I nodded, while Hotaru looked like she didn't care.

Then the smiley one spoke. "I'm Kokoro Yome. You can call me Koko." I smiled at him.

Of course, Youichi decided to make fun of me again. Putting his hands on my shoulders, he joked, "Hey guys, you can call this one Mi-_chan_. Isn't he just the cutest thing?"

Everyone laughed, except Natsume and Hotaru. Natsume merely smirked, while Hotaru was expressionless.

Glaring at Youichi, I stepped on his foot, and looked up at him with an innocent smile. "Well, Yo-_chan_, everyone, let's get going already!"

I saw Ruka, Koko, and Mochu laugh and clutch their stomachs when I stepped on Youichi.

Natsume was looking at me with his crimson eyes. He looked slightly amused. Dang, his eyes are beautiful. Wait, what am I thinking? Stop it, Mikan!

Forgetting about those sexy -stop it!- eyes, I turned my attention to Hotaru. Maybe I was seeing things, but I could have sworn that Hotaru took out her camera and took a picture of Ruka laughing. Knowing her, I probably saw it correctly. Looks like she found a target already.

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Haha, this is the longest chapter so far. I debated with myself for a while about Youichi playing keyboards, but I really liked the idea so I kept it. I'll actually have him play sometime later. I basically had the same debate about Mikan and guitars.

**I probably should have mentioned more Natsume in this chapter, but he'll have his chance in the next chapter or two.**

**Please review, and no flames~ :]**


	7. Chapter 6: First Day

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Gakuen Alice or the characters from Gakuen Alice. I only own the characters that I made up myself.

Thank you to those that reviewed Chapter 5: Crimson Eyes :D

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**Chapter 6: First Day**

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**[Hotaru's POV]**

If I were a boy… I would take out my baka gun and shoot every single idiot in the hallways. I don't like the way they stare at Mikan as our group walks by. It makes me uneasy. I won't lie and say that I didn't notice the same stares being thrown my way, but I can take care of any nuisances myself.

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[General POV]

A group of seven males walked into their classroom, Class B. Three of them had smiles on their faces, one had a mischievous grin, two looked bored, and the last one looked _pissed_. The pissed male took a hold of a smiling boy with brown hair and dragged him into an empty corner of the classroom, leaving the others staring after them in surprise.

"Owww Hoshi, not so hard. What's wrong, dude?" The smile was wiped off of his innocent features, now replaced with concern.

Hoshi stared at the auburn hair boy with serious amethyst eyes. "Minoru, have you noticed the looks on the faces of the males we passed in the hallway?"

All he got was a confused expression in response. "What do you mean?"

Sighing, Hoshi stared at his friend for a minute before responding. "Never mind. Just be careful, and remember that not every guy in this school has good intentions. Keep your guard up at all times. The guys in this class, and Youichi's friends seem to be nice people, so they're fine. Remember my words, alright?"

Minoru nodded his head vigorously. "Of course Hoshi! Now let's go, let's go! We need to find our seats." He then pulled his stoic friend over to their group. "Hey guys, where do I sit?"

"Hn."

"Hyuuga, that isn't a very nice way to answer someone," Minoru pouted.

Crimson eyes glared at hazel. "Never call me by my last name again."

The surrounding people backed up a step, except for Minoru.

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[Mikan's POV]

His crimson eyes glared at me. "Never call me by my last name again."

I grinned at him. "Okay, Nat-chan!" Another glare.

A loud gasp came from a boy with dirty blonde hair and glasses. Seeing Koko clamp his hand on the kid's mouth, I guess Nat-chan wasn't a good thing to say.

"Shush, Yuu." I guess that was his name.

Natsume's eyes glittered dangerously as they looked me over. Then he looked me in the eyes and smirked.

I shivered when he spoke. "We should get to our seats _Mi-chan_. I'm so glad we're _seatmates_." Then he chuckled and walked over to the last row, sat down, put his legs up on his side of the desk, and put a manga over his eyes.

Everyone sweat dropped.

Hotaru patted me on the shoulder, dragged me to my seat to the left of Natsume, and pushed me down. She then moved over to a desk two seats to my left.

_Brrrrring!_

That was the bell, signaling for class to start. There was a mad rush for seats, but the teacher hadn't come in.

Ruka, the angel, smiled at me encouragingly and pulled out the chair between me and Hotaru. Thank marshmallows he's here. Maybe sitting next to Natsume wouldn't be so bad afterall.

Youichi, Koko, Mochu, and the dirty blonde kid with glasses named Yuu, sat in the row in front of us.

I glanced at Hotaru and had to struggle to not face palm myself. The money symbols were back in her eyes. Oh no, camera is in her hand. She then tapped Ruka, who turned to her, smile still intact.

_Snap!_

"H-H-Hoshi, what was that for?" Ruka turned red. _Snap! _"Hey, stop that," he whined.

Natsume removed the manga from his face, turned his head in Hotaru's direction, and glared. She glared back.

That was when a blonde, feminine man walked into the room, wearing sparkling green pants, and shirt to match. Oh right, I forgot that Narumi-sensei would be our homeroom teacher.

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[Natsume's POV]

When what's-his-face called my name for attendance I replied, "I'm here, gay teacher."

Several heads snapped in my direction in shock. The gay teacher however, just smiled and continued with attendance.

"Well, aren't you the lively one Natsume~?" I wish he'd wipe that smile off of his face. It's creepy. "And to answer anyone's question beforehand, no, I am not gay. My name is Narumi L. Anjo~, and I am your homeroom teach- AH~! Hoshi and Minoru! There you are! Hello again~!" He waved to the ones sitting on both sides of Ruka.

Minoru waved enthusiastically back, to my surprise. What surprised me even more was when his friend, the stoic one, pulled out what looked like a bazooka gun, and pointed it at Narumi. Where does he keep that thing?

_BAKA!_

There's that sound again. Wasn't the Minoru kid shot by something like that earlier?

Looking at Narumi, I saw that he was on the ground rubbing his head. Damn, maybe I shouldn't piss this kid off. He just shot that thing at a teacher, put it away, and now looks as if nothing happened. I must say, the kid has guts.

Narumi stood up, and laughed nervously. "Well kids, it's a free day today. That also means that anyone interested in trying out for sports will have to wait until tomorrow~ So you can do whatever you want for the rest of the day. Ta ta~" With that, he ran out of the room.

Everyone sweat dropped when he exited. Whatever.

"Oh no," someone moaned. I glanced at Minoru. He had his head slumped on the desk.

Ruka, being the nice person he is, asked the brown haired kid what was wrong.

"I forgot to-"

He was interrupted by the intercom. "Will Class B's Minoru Sakura and Hoshi Imai report to the Director's office immediately? I repeat. Will Class B's Minoru Sakura and Hoshi Imai report to the Director's office immediately?" It shut off.

The gang all turned to the both of them and grinned.

Koko spoke up. "Heh, what did you two do? It's not even the end of first period."

Minoru looked surprised, but the stoic one -Hoshi- grabbed him by the collar and led him out of the classroom without a word.

I wonder what happened. Nah, screw it, it's none of my business. Not like I care either way.

After a minute of silence, Youichi suggested that we go back to the dorms and go to the room he shares with Minoru -I don't know why they even bother calling them rooms-. We agreed, and the six of us, including Yuu, left the classroom.

**

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[Director's Office]

**[Mikan's POV]**

"You both are probably wondering why I called you here." My uncle paused. "Well, actually this matter only concerns Mikan… Minoru… But I thought that Imai would want to know."

When those last words left his mouth, Hotaru raised an eyebrow. So did I.

"What's wrong, Kazu?"

He hesitated. "It… It's about your parents and grandfather's wills."

Um… what? "What about them?" Man, was I confused. Why would he want to talk about that? Wait… did he say my parents will?

My uncle gave me a funny look, like I should already know what he was going to say. "Well… Attorneys have informed me that your parents will was found along with your grandfather's. They all left everything they had to you, but one of them is currently being taken care of. Just till you're older. And… Let's just say that there are a few things that your family has left you."

I grabbed Hotaru's hand and squeezed. She squeezed back and gave me a reassuring smile.

Taking a minute to take it all in, I asked, "May I know what they left? Wait, why was my parents will left with my grandfather's?"

Kazu now looked amused. "That is exactly why you are here. Anyway, in your parents will, it said that they wanted your grandfather to keep it until you were older, or until the time was right to tell you. But now that he has… moved on… It is time to tell you about what you are inheriting, and who your parents were."

Hotaru shifted her eyes between my uncle and I. "Go on," she said.

"Okay. Let's start with the money. When you put the amount of money that they left you together, it adds up to… 300 billion yen."

Wha- WHAT? No way. That's impossible! I swear, my jaw dropped all the way to the floor. Even Hotaru was struggling to keep her composure.

Kazu cleared his throat. "The company that you will inherit, is currently being managed by me. Nobody except the company knows that though. It is your decision on whether you want to manage it yourself or not when you are older. I will be more than glad to help you. As I was saying… the company itself is worth even more… way more, than what your family left you. It is called the Yukihira Corporation, or more informally, Yukihira Corp."

I staggered. "But… I always thought the company name was just a coincidence," I muttered weakly. Hotaru patted me on the shoulder.

Hotaru mumbled, "That's the richest and most influential company and family in the world. Meetings and information are always kept confidential, and it is absolutely impossible to hack into their systems." I paled.

My uncle cleared his throat again. Hotaru and I both stiffened. What else could there possibly be? We waited for him to continue.

"Then… there is your mother. Well, I imagine that you inherited her talent in music? It should have helped you complete your training."

Are you serious?

"Anyway, your mother was a professional singer and very famous violinist. She could also play other instruments, such as the piano, flute, cello, and a few others, but that's not the point. When she was a professional singer, she used an alias, and never made public appearances. Fans and reporters could never catch her. So nobody that didn't know her personally knew what she looked like. The name she used was Aika Tsukino. She was ve-"

"OH MY GOD!" Oops. "I… I love her songs. They're so… heartwarming, and each one pierces into my soul." I sat down in a chair, my legs too wobbly to hold me up.

Sneaking a glance at Hotaru, my eyes widened. She had lost all composure, and looked absolutely shocked. Well, I wouldn't blame her. She loves Aika Tsukino's … mother's… songs as much as I do. I gently pulled her down into the chair next to me.

**

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[Kazu's POV]

I never thought that they would be so shocked. Especially Imai. Their reactions to the identity of Aiko Tsukino was priceless. Right now, they were stark white.

Mikan looked at me with a tired expression. I guess it was beginning to be too much. "Please tell me that that is all there is. I don't think I can handle any more."

My lips twitched upward. "Don't worry. Other than the vacation homes in Paris, Hawaii, and California, there is nothing else."

Mikan and Imai sighed with relief. I smirked. "Except…" They stiffened.

"This is the absolute last thing. A three-story beach home in Okinawa." Again, they sighed with relief. My niece and her friend have such funny reactions.

I couldn't take anymore. I started chuckling. Mikan and Imai's gazes snapped to meet mine. I cleared my throat in an attempt to control myself, but I couldn't stop the shaking in my shoulders and the smile on my face.

Shoulder still shaking, I said, "Well, this must be a lot to take in, so you two should go to your rooms."

The raven haired girl was the first to recover. She nodded in understanding. Pulling Mikan gently to her feet, she dragged her to the door.

Ah. "Oh wait, one more thing Mikan. I have an adopted son. Maybe you'll see him around school sometime. He's sixteen, an in a higher grade. The second year. His name is Tsubasa Andou."

Wait, maybe she isn't listening to anything anymore. Or not… She turned around.

To my astonishment she smiled brightly. "Really? That's great! I have an older cousin. Awesome!" With that, she ran out of the room, pulling Imai with her.

**

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[Hotaru's POV]

Wow, an adopted cousin, huh. I'm happy for her. As for all of the things that Director Kazu told us… The airhead deserves it. All I want is for her to be happy. I'm still shocked about her mother though.

We arrived at the door to Mikan's room… apartment? Yeah, that's more like it.

Just as she was about to unlock the door, Mikan stiffened. Turning to me, she asked, "C-C-Can you believe it Hot- Hoshi? I… I'm…" She struggled for the words.

"An heiress," I finished. She nodded.

I dropped my voice to a low whisper and said, "Minoru, I think you should keep that information to yourself. Only tell people that you can trust with your _life. _If word lets out about your family background, something bad might happen. Do you understand?"

Mikan nodded with understanding. " I do understand."

She finally put the key into the lock and opened the door. I followed her inside… and bumped into her?

What the? "Minoru, what do you think yo-"

A shy voice floated in our direction. "Oh, hey Hoshi-san." I raised an eyebrow. It was just Yuu… and everyone from earlier.

Moving in front of Mikan, I snuck a glance at her. She still looked really pale, but she was amused at the fact that there were six boys in the living room… and us.

My new target, Ruka, spoke up. "Sorry for intruding Minoru. We were bored." Minoru merely nodded in reply.

Youichi walked up to us. He stopped and stared at us for a few seconds. "Are you guys alright? You're both really pale. Did something happen at Director Yukihira's office? You guys were there for at least forty minutes." As soon as he said that, all eyes were on Mikan and I.

Mikan cleared her throat and looked at the boys, all signs of shock erased. "I was called in because Uncle wanted to know if I was settling in and getting used to the place."

Koko and Mochu looked at Mikan in surprise. "The Director is your uncle?" She nodded. They gave a slow whistle.

Ruka and Yuu looked awed. Youichi wasn't surprised; he already knew. Hyuuga… No expression.

Then their eyes all turned to me, questioning. I raised an eyebrow. "I was called in for the same reason. I'm Minoru's best friend afterall."

I noticed that Hyuuga was staring at us strangely, but he said nothing. Nobody else did either, for they had accepted our answer. After that, we just ate, talked, and played video games for the rest of the day.

Man, I hope nothing happens to Mikan, and that she stays safe. I'll pray for her.

Heh. At least she has the money now. I might make her buy lunch for me for a week to make up for the 1400 yen she owes me.

_

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**Uh-oh. The chapters are gradually getting longer XD**

**_Please review, and no flames~ :]_**

**_8/25/10_**


	8. Chapter 7: I'll Show You

Disclaimer:**I do not own Gakuen Alice or the characters from Gakuen Alice. I only own the characters that I made up myself.**

**Wow, I'm starting to get more reviews on this. Thanks guys :D And kudos to the person who pointed out a name mistake in the last chapter. I totally wouldn't have noticed. **

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**Chapter 7: I'll Show You**

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**[Second day of school; Lunchtime]**

**[Koko's POV]**

If I were a girl… I'd be pulling all sorts of pranks. Yeah, that would be great. I'd send a fake love letter to Jinno just for kicks. That dude needs to lighten up.

We were all sitting around a sakura tree.

I was puzzled. There was something odd, that I've been feeling since this morning. It happened yesterday too. For some reason, I have the feeling that eyes have been watching our group… Our every move.

More specifically, I didn't think they were watching all of us, but I just had an inkling that people had their eyes on our two newest members. Hoshi Imai and Minoru Sakura. Of course, they _are_ both pretty cute for guys; you'd have to be blind not to notice.

_Hoshi Imai_: Cold, merciless, intelligent, moneymaker, blackmailer, stoic, and if you look hard enough, has a soft spot for Minoru. That was my first impression of him. He can take care of himself. Especially if he keeps those weird guns with him.

_Minoru Sakura_: Bubbly, innocent, intelligent, musically talented, unfathomable, like a puzzle… vulnerable. His personality is great, but sometimes it feels like he's hiding something from us. Cheerful most of the time, but then he'd suddenly lapse into silence. I wonder if something happened.

Those two are the newest members to our circle of friends. Both are odd in their own their own way, and total opposites, but are good people. I could tell all of that in just a short amount of time. Amazing right?

But… Minoru worries me a little. Well, he didn't do anything wrong or something like that. It's _them_. Or at least, whoever keeps watching him and his friend. Hoshi can take care of himself if he gets into trouble, but Minoru is wide open.

I wonder if the others have noticed. Good thing the two opposites left. Minoru realized he had left a homework assignment, and amethyst eyes thought for a few seconds before deciding to run after him. Now would be a good time to bring up the subject, before they come back.

Clearing my throat got the attention of the others. With their eyes on me, I said uncertainly, "Have you guys noticed anything _strange_ whenever Hoshi and Minoru are around us…? I'm not saying they did anything wrong, it's… something else."

Silence. Wow, that brought down the mood completely. I sweat dropped.

Then I noticed blue-gray and crimson eyes. The owners had their brows furrowed.

Youichi made a face, and looked at me. "So you noticed too, huh. I keep getting these chills. It's like the feeling I get when fan girls are around, but… different. It's scarier because whenever I turn around, nothing is there. At least you can _see_ the girls."

Ruka, and Natsume had unreadable looks on their faces, while Yuu and Mochu nodded slowly.

Yuu looked like he wanted to ask a question, but before he could, a voice rang out.

"Hey guys we're baaack! I must be losing it. As soon as we got to my room, I remembered that it was in my backpack the whole time."

_BAKA BAKA BAKA_

We all sweat dropped when Minoru flew into a tree, and Hoshi simply sat down beside us.

_Brrrrring! _I guess it's time for class again.

**

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[After school]

**[Mikan's POV]**

"Well, we have twenty minutes before we need to show up for tryouts. Think we should go to the locker room now?" Ruka asked.

I stiffened and stopped in my tracks. Holy marshmallows! I completely forgot about the locker room. How am I supposed to change? What to do, what to do…

"Is something wrong Minoru?" Yuu asked.

Grinning sheepishly, I shook my head. "I was just thinking that we have Jinno-sensei tomorrow. From what I heard from other people, he isn't very friendly."

Mochu made a face. "My friend's older brother told me that Jinno always looks like he has a stick shoved up his ass. That's how unsocial and stuck-up he is."

The others agreed, for they had heard the same rumors.

Hotaru tugged on the sleeve of my shirt. Giving me a knowing look, she whispered, "Good luck." Releasing me, she started to walk away.

I paled. "Wait, you aren't gonna watch?" I asked, obviously disappointed.

Turning around, Hotaru raised an eyebrow. "Why would I want to watch you mess up, idiot? The Director let me have one of the labs here for my personal use, so I'm going to start using it. Goodbye." With her back to me, Hotaru walked away without looking back.

Hearing snickering, I turned around and glared. It immediately got quiet.

"Let's go already." I smiled creepily at them, which made my new friends all back up.

As soon as we got to the locker room, I stopped in my tracks again, making Ruka bump into my back. "W-W-What's wrong, Minoru?"

An idea had formed in my head. I turned and raised an eyebrow at Ruka, and smirked. "I have to take a dump. Wanna come with?"

The blonde boy flushed a deep red and stammered, "N-N-N-No, I do not!" He then stiffened and looked around frantically, to see if Hotaru would ambush him with a camera, like she had been doing since yesterday.

Chuckling evilly, I slouched over to the bathroom, hauling my duffel bag with me.

**

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[Youichi's POV]

That was weird. And kind of creepy. I didn't know the dude had a vulgar side to him.

But wait, didn't he go to the bathroom not too long ago? Oh well, maybe he got a stomachache.

Minoru came out of the bathroom about four minutes later, carrying kneepads, and already dressed in clothing he could run around in. His shirt was sort of loose for him, and his shorts went just above the knees.

Wow, this is surprising. The dude has some of the smoothest legs I have ever seen on a guy. Ha, I bet he's been teased before about that. I'd tease him myself, but he doesn't look like he's in the mood for any crap right now.

He didn't even look at us, and proceeded to the door leading into the gym.

Seeing as I was done changing, and the others were stuffing their crap into their lockers, I called out to Minoru to walk with him. "Ay, shortie, wait up!"

We were the first ones there, besides the coach.

**

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[Natsume's POV]

The coach, Tsuyoshi Nakagawa, was a man in around his thirties, with dark green hair all intact. He made us sign a sheet of paper for the tryout. Then, he told us all to get into groups of six. I scanned my group of friends: Ruka, Koko, Mochu, Youichi… and Minoru (Yuu left to go to the library). Including me, that makes six, so it's perfect.

Eye rolling mentally, I wondered whether Minoru could actually handle volleyball. He had confirmed yesterday evening that he was five feet and two inches tall. The rest of us ranged from five feet nine inches to six feet.

When the coach spoke again, we all had determined looks on our faces. "Now separate." What the fuck? Is he off his rocker?

Confused murmurs broke out through the crowd of boys. "Now, I'm going to go through this list of names, one by one. After I call the first name, I want the rest of you to get out of here and wait outside the gym. I'll come get you when your turn comes up. If you have any complaints, then get out of here and don't come back. I don't know what the other high schools do for tryouts, but here, I do things differently."

We all nodded.

Scanning the list, Nakagawa called out, "Minoru Sakura."

The auburn haired boy stepped forward. He looked pale, but the calm look in his hazel eyes said that he was ready for anything. The coach's eyes glimmered with amusement.

"Sorry kid, but you have to be in high school to be able to tryout for volleyball." He smirked. Several of the boys besides our group sniggered.

I saw Minoru's eye twitch, and he had a dangerous gleam in his eyes. Nakagawa noticed, and wiped the smirk off of his ugly face.

Minoru's innocent features distorted into the same creepy smile he used earlier. "_Old man_, how would you know that if you've never met me before?" Astonished gasps sounded from everyone. Chuckling, the dangerous gleam did not leave his eyes.

"You little b-" Nakagawa started.

Pointing his thumb at himself, Minoru said loudly, "Well, this kid's got guts, and I swear I'll show you something that even _you_ will be amazed at. Unless you're going to go ahead with your prejudiced thinking, and already decide that I'm _not_ _good enough_?"

"Heh. You've got guts alright. Okay kid, let's see if you've got the bite to go with your bark." The coach glared at the rest of us and said, "You guys. Out!"

We all ran out of the gym.

**

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[Yuu's POV]

Phew. I'm glad the library had some books on taking apart computers. It'll be easy t- Huh? What's that?

"Hey Yuu!" called out a blonde boy with blue eyes.

Peering at him and his companions with confusion, I asked, "What happened? Why are you all out here? And… Where's Minoru?" Why wasn't he with them?

A movement at the corner of my vision caught my attention. Youichi had walked up to stand next to me. Sighing, he said, "The coach called him a kid and said that he would have to be in high school to be able to tryout. Th-"

"Dude, he totally flipped. He called the coach an old man! He had this really creepy smile on his face, h-"

"Shut up Mochu, you're giving me a headache," Natsume said, while rubbing his temples with his fingers.

Ruka spoke up next, only quieter than Mochu had. "Minoru is doing his tryout right now. Apparently we all have to go one by one."

Really? That's odd. "I… I see. Well I better get going. I need to read this book, and try to take apart my computer." I walked away.

**

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[Nakagawa's POV]

What… No, who _is _this kid? No normal person his height should be able to jump like that! His skills are amazing. Even when I set the ball knowing that it would be too high, he was still able to jump and spike it over the net, making the ball land right at the white line.

I remember seeing skills like his before… But who?

I regarded the auburn haired boy with a serious expression.

"….. Hey kid. What was your name again?"

"Minoru Sakura, _old man_," came the smart-ass reply. Damn the kid.

"You see the two doors over there? Go through the one on the right and wait there. You'll find out your results after all the others have tried out."

The kid nodded, and walked to the door that I had indicated. When he closed the door behind him, I went outside the gym and called the next person.

**

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[Half an hour later]

**[Ruka's POV]**

"Go to the door on the right," was all the coach said.

I frowned, then went to the door and opened it.

I wonder how Natsume did. Closing the door behind me, I saw two people. One had raven hair, while the other had auburn. They were bickering.

"Natsume, Minoru! Is this… the pass room?" I asked nervously. They stopped their squabble.

Minoru looked at me and smiled brightly. "I have no idea~!"

I sweat dropped and slumped to the floor.

**

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[Forty-five minutes later]

**[Koko's POV]**

"Go to the door on the right," the coach said.

I did as he said. When I got inside, I spotted Natsume, Ruka, Minoru, and two others I didn't know.

Looking at Minoru, I asked him if this was the pass room.

Grinning, he replied, "I have no idea~!"

I sweat dropped and slumped on the floor next to Ruka and the two people I didn't know.

**

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[Forty-five minutes later]

**[Mochu's POV]**

"Go to the door on the right," the old man said.

When I stepped inside, and closed the door, I noticed Natsume and Minoru sitting down in chairs. Ruka, Koko and five other people were slumped on the floor looking depressed.

My eye twitched. "Is this the fail room?"

Minoru looked happy when he answered me, "I have no idea~!"

I sweat dropped and slumped to the floor like the others.

**

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[Half an hour later]

**[Youichi's POV]**

"C'mon. Let's go to the door on the right." The coach walked over to the door and opened it, pushing me inside.

The scene before me was comical. Natsume and Minoru sat peacefully in chairs. But nine people were slumped on the floor around them looking depressed, including Ruka, Koko, and Mochu.

Coach Nakagawa chuckled. "Why so gloomy? You all passed."

Minoru jumped into the air yelling "yippee!", while the others looked at Nakagawa with an are-you-serious expression.

Smirking, the coach said, "You six, stand up." He had pointed to my friends and I. "Better be grateful. You six are the main team. The upperclassmen are all third years, so they won't have much time to spare for club actvities. The rest of you are the alternates."

What the heck. Why aren't there any second years? Ah well, whatever. Main team is pretty cool though.

**

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[Five minutes later]

**[Still Youichi's POV]**

When we got to the locker room, I noticed Minoru slip into the bathroom with his stuff. Kind of suspicious, or maybe he was just a shy person.

Strange guy.

After five minutes, he came out dressed in casual clothing. Minoru nodded to everyone and quickly left the locker room.

Glancing at my watch, it read six in the evening. It would probably start to get dark soon. It's still early though.

"Oi Youichi," came Natsume's voice. I looked at him questioningly.

"We going to your place again?"

'Sure, I don't see why not. Just hurry up."

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[Mikan's POV]

I was halfway to the dorm building by now. I'm just glad I made the team. And the main team at that.

Hotaru would want to know… I think. I'll stop by her room before going to mine. Mm, man, food would be good right about now. Good thing Youichi and I completely filled up the fridge a couple of days ago.

But what to ma- HUH?

Hands grabbed my shoulders and pulled at my hair. Looking at the ground, I saw four shadows, so that means four people. There's no way I could fight them off. One of them punched me in the cheek, making me see stars and stagger. They then put a blindfold on me.

That's when I screamed. "What the _FUCK _do you think you're doing. Let go of me right now! You assholes!"

I tried kicking the guy that had my shoulders, and succeeded. But, one of the guys immediately punched me in the stomach, making me gasp in surprise.

That gave them the opportunity to duct tape my mouth shut, and grab a hold of my arms and legs. They lifted me into the air.

Feeling myself being dragged through something scratchy, I guessed they were moving me away from the main pathway, and into a more secluded place where nobody would find us. A place with bushes. A lot of them.

Stinging was felt in my arms and legs, so the bushes had scratched me.

Wait… Oh no, oh no! Is this what they call kidnapping? Are they going to rape me? But why would they do that to a boy? I mean, I'm _not_ a boy, but they would find out I'm a _girl_… And that is _definitely_ the worst scenario!

I tried struggling, but their grips were like being stuck in cement.

They stopped moving, and pinned me to the ground, so that my back was to them. That's when they started laughing. And it wasn't the good kind; it was _scary_. While I was being pinned down, one of them grabbed my arms, and tied my hands behind my back.

"So, this is the cutie that has the school in an uproar." What are they talking about?

"Hard to believe this kid is a guy, right? Did you see how clear his skin is?"

"You guys got the camera? I want to have a souvenir of this night."

"C'mon, let's see if we can make this princess scream, and take him for a test drive."

While still holding my legs, they turned me over into a sitting position. I felt one of them move behind me and then grab my hair, so that my neck would be exposed. I started crying; hard.

Something wet licked my ear, and then it moved to the hollow of my neck. I heard a sucking sound, and felt a sharp pain. One of them bit me. Gross.

I whimpered in disgust. Or at least tried to. It's hard trying to get recognizable sounds through duct tape. Tears soaked the blindfold by now, and was dripping onto my cheeks.

"Hey, he moaned. He must be liking that." _Click! _"Let's make this interesting and mess his clothes up first." Are you effing retarded?

"Dude… What's the point of doing that when his clothes are going to come off anyway?"

"You have no imagination." With that, they pressed something cold to my skin. Knife? Scissors? I heard cutting sounds, and then felt cold on my arms. Probably cut my sleeves off.

I felt the same cold on my legs. Okay, now I'm getting really _frightened_. They cut up my pants, and probably removed them so I was left in my boxers. I couldn't tell anymore. The cold is seeping into my skin.

Hearing a rustling, the last thing I expected was a shocked voice. "Hey, what in gods name do you think you're doing? I hear something weird, and this is what I find? You guys are _whack jobs_."

The next thing I heard were thuds. One by one. Who was going down? Then the hands holding me dropped, and I was being pulled away by warmer, kinder, strong hands.

The same voice spoke again. "Are you okay? Shit, I can't believe those guys." I felt a tug on my hands, so I guess the person was working on whatever had me tied. "Scum like them should go to hell. Ah, there we go." My bonds were removed.

"You're pretty quiet. Why aren't you talking?" I hummed pointedly, and he seemed to get the message. The duct tape was ripped off. I grunted in pain, but didn't say anything. I couldn't believe I was actually saved.

Now that my hands were free, I reached up and took off the blindfold. Looking at the sky, I saw that it was very close to being dark out.

My savior helped me up, and we walked in silence through the bushes. Well, almost in silence. I was still crying, hiccupping every now and then.

When we reached the main pathway under a lamppost, my savior gently pulled me so that I was facing him. I could see clearly now that there was light. I've never seen this guy. He doesn't look familiar. I _know_ I don't know anyone with a star tattoo under their left eye.

Even though _I _wasn't familiar with him, he seemed to know me. The guy looked shocked actually.

"Mikan Sakura? Oh wait, you go by Minoru."

Huh?

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Hahaha, I bet you all have a pretty good idea who saved her. I hope there aren't too many disappointments. At least Mikan made the team ;D [8/26/10]

**Please review, and no flames~ :]**


	9. Chapter 8: Wings

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Gakuen Alice or the characters from Gakuen Alice. I only own the characters that I made up myself.

You'll get the meaning of the title of this chapter later. Thank you guys for reviewing!

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**Chapter 8: Wings**

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**[Mikan's POV]**

If I were a boy… I would make sure that every piece of scum burns in hell.

"Mikan Sakura? Oh wait, you go by Minoru."

The boy in front of me said my name. How does he know me?

I bowed, but gasped with pain when I did. "Thank you for saving me, but how do you know me?" My savior gently straightened me.

He ruffled his midnight blue hair, and grinned sheepishly. Wow, this guy is quite the looker. His eyes are the same color as his hair. The boy sighed.

"I guess Kazu didn't show you a picture of me, so I guess I'll have to do the introduction myself." He grinned again. "I am Tsubasa Andou, 17 years old, second year of high school. Captain of the basketball team, and your adopted cousin, at your service."

I stared at him blankly. Adopted cousin? Oh yeah, uncle mentioned him. I really do have family! This is great!

Beaming at him, I exclaimed, "Really? No joke? You're apart of my family, Tsubasa-senpai?" I then whimpered in pain. Smiling hurt. Damn the jerk that punched my face.

Tsubasa chuckled. "Yup. I sure am. Jeez, call me nii-chan, not senpai. I want to hear you say it. C'mon, say _nii-chan_."

My legs felt like they were going to collapse on me. "Tsubasa nii-chan…" I whispered, as my legs buckled, making me fall to the ground.

"Ah, you must be tired right? I'll take you to your place, and then you need to eat. Get food into your system and _then _sleep. Okay?" He paused for a moment. "Hmm… It doesn't look like you can stand properly, ne? I guess I'll have to carry you. Don't worry, I've got your stuff too."

Before I could protest, he lifted me from the ground and into his arms. Bridal style, too.

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[Youichi's POV]

Something was off. Here we were. At mine and Minoru's place. The gang had all showed up, even Hoshi and Yuu. Except for one.

I had noticed for a while now that Hoshi kept sneaking glances at the clock on the wall, watching as the seconds ticked by. Eight o' clock; at night.

Then he voiced the thought that I was too uncertain to ask. Cold amethyst eyes bore into mine, making me freeze. "Why isn't Minoru coming out of his room, Youichi?"

Everyone stiffened. Mochu dropped the game controller he had in his hands. Had they thought the same thing? Or did they not notice?

I cleared me throat. "That's because… I don't think he's in there. Don't ask me how, but I can usually tell if he's here or not. And my instincts are telling me he hasn't even been back here since lunchtime."

Hoshi knocked his chair back and pointed one of his guns at me. What was it called? Baka gun?

In a dead, threatening voice, he asked, "Why didn't you say anything?"

Okay, now he's really scary. I don't want to be shot by that thing he's holding. I gulped. "I… I didn't want to say anything because I might have been wrong. Maybe he needed his privacy or something and went somewhere after tryouts."

I nearly sighed with relief when Hoshi put down his gun.

The expression on Hoshi's face was unreadable, but his eyes were _pissed_. He picked up his chair and sat down. "He hasn't been answering his calls," he mumbled.

That was when we heard the sound of a key turning in a lock. We all snapped our heads in the direction of the front door. Hoshi stood up, looking at the door hopefully. It opened, revealing what we all wanted to see, but what we saw wasn't exactly what we were expecting.

Knocking his chair over again, Hoshi ran over to the front door.

**

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[Natsume's POV]

What the hell? There's Minoru at the door alright, but what's with that appearance? And why the hell is someone carrying him? Wait, is that Andou?

When the two people stepped inside where there was more light, I heard gasps explode around me. I can see why. Minoru was being held bridal style by some guy they've never seen before.

But none of that had my attention. What I want to know is why the _fuck_ is Minoru all scratched up? Why is his face bruised? And why are the sleeves of his shirt cut off, and what happened to his pants?

Minoru smiled weakly at all of us.

I glanced at Imai. He looked pale, and livid. I could see him trying to compose himself, but maybe the scene before him was too much.

Youichi looked angry too. He stood up and walked over to the door. "Who the _hell _are _you_, and why does my roommate look like _that_?"

The person holding Minoru sighed. "I'm Tsubasa Andou. I happen to be the adopted son of the Director, which makes me Minoru's cousin."

"That doesn't explain why he looks like that, Andou." I glared at him. Wait, why am I angry? Minoru is my friend. Anyone would've been angry.

"Oh, it's you Natsume. To answer the question, I had just come back from the library, and was headed for the dorms. That was when I heard strange noises. I decided to check it out, but when I got there, whoever was making the noises weren't in sight. So, I followed the noises." He paused.

"What happened next?" Asked Ruka.

"I thought I lost them. It was hard trying to see where I was going. The damn bushes. But then I found the sick bastards. They had Minoru pinned to the ground, hands tied, blindfolded, and mouth taped shut. They had cut up some of his shirt, and cut his pants off of him, leaving him in his boxers." Andou said grimly.

Minoru cleared his throat. "If… If Tsubasa-nii hadn't come, I don't know what would have happened. Th-They were doing some sick kind of foreplay." He shuddered and buried his head into Andou's shirt.

When he buried his head, it exposed his neck. I stood up. "What the hell are those on your neck? Are those what I think they are?" I demanded angrily. Ah, what the hell. There I go getting angry again… but why?

"I… They bit me. Twice. I don't know why though. But it made me scared." We all sweat dropped at Minoru's innocence. What an idiot.

Tsubasa looked at us pointedly. "Well, as much as I like holding people up, I think it's time for Minoru to sit down and eat something. Can someone get him food?" He lowered Minoru into a chair.

With that, Youichi stood up and went into the kitchen. Hoshi followed him.

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[Hotaru's POV]

How _dare_ they do that to my best friend. I'll find out who did it, and blackmail their sorry asses. Then, I'll upgrade my baka guns _and_ my baka cannon, and blast them until they're unrecognizable.

I helped Youichi prepare a light meal consisting of tomato soup, a grilled cheese sandwich, and strawberry milk; One of Mikan's favorite meals when she's feeling down.

Youichi put the meal on a tray and brought it out to Mikan. I followed him, and sat down next to my best friend.

Tsubasa tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a camera. "It's… Those whack jobs were using this. Do whatever you want with it. Maybe there's something on there that you might find useful." Dropping his voice to a low whisper that only I could hear, he added, "They didn't find out."

I took the camera with numb hands and nodded my head.

When Mikan was done eating, I stood up and motioned for Tsubasa to lift her up. Which he did. I looked at the group. "We're going to use the bathroom for awhile."

I didn't wait for a reply, and walked into the bathroom, Tsubasa trailing behind me.

Tsubasa sat Mikan down on the edge of the bathtub. I ordered him to get me ice and wrap it in a towel. He left, and I proceeded to fill the bathtub with a little more than warm water.

As soon as Tsubasa came back and gave me the ice, I ordered him to leave. He scurried away, and I locked the door behind him.

"C'mon Mikan," I said softly. "Let's get you out of what's left of your clothes and into the tub." It took a couple of minutes, but I was able to remove the rest of her clothing, and help her in.

Mikan sighed with pleasure. "Thanks Hotaru. The water feels great. Hee hee." I scrubbed her back gently with soap, while she did the rest.

She winced when she put the ice to her face. "Ouch. They didn't have to punch me in the face. Does it look bad Hotaru?"

I shook my head. "No, it's not like it's swelling or anything. You'll just have a bruise for a few days." I smiled gently.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to go get you a change of clothes out of your room."

**

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[Youichi's POV]

After Tsubasa what's-his-face came out of the bathroom, he left, telling us to call him if anything else happened.

A few minutes later, Hoshi came out of the bathroom and went into Minoru's room, coming back out with clothes in his hands.

He paused and looked at the rest of us sitting on the couch and chairs. Hoshi opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but then decided against it and walked back to the bathroom.

Yuu got up from his seat looking worried, and said that he was going to go back to his room to prepare crab brains for Hoshi. We nodded at him.

Mochu and Koko left twenty minutes later, saying that they would see us tomorrow.

Natsume and Ruka stayed put though. The raven haired boy looked like he had nothing better to do, and Ruka was petting his rabbit, Usagi, rather frantically.

The blonde boy spoke up. "I can't believe that there are actually people that would do that to a guy. He may look a little girly, but that's no excuse."

"Hn."

I sighed. "Let's just hope nothing else happens."

"Hn."

"Natsume, don't you have anything else to say?"

"Hn… Shut up I'm thinking."

Ruka and I sweat dropped.

The door of the bathroom opened, revealing a somewhat relaxed Minoru, and a stoic Hoshi. The latter had his arm around Minoru's shoulders.

Minoru smiled at us, but it looked like it pained him to do so. "Hey guys! What's up?"

"Hn."

"Natsume Hyuuga. Is that any way to answer someone who has been through a scary experience?"

"You seem fine to me," Natsume retorted.

Laughing, Minoru smiled brightly. But then he winced and clutched his stomach. Realizing what he did, he pulled his hand away and started toward his room with Hoshi's help.

"Tch." Much to my surprise, Natsume went over to Minoru and said, "Show me." Hoshi raised an eyebrow, while Minoru looked at Natsume as if he had gone nuts. Hell, I probably had the same expression.

**

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[Natsume's POV]

Okay, I have no idea what I'm doing anymore. Ever since Andou came in carrying Minoru's thin form, I've had this strange feeling in my gut. I don't know what it is. It makes me angry, makes me annoyed, but most of all, it makes me worried. And it's all because of this Minoru Sakura guy.

What's happening to me?

I saw him clutch his stomach. Did he get hit? Damn those bastards to hell. I made a "tch" noise, and before I knew it, I was standing in front of Minoru and Imai.

"Show me," I said. I got a look that said have-you-gone-insane in reply, and Hoshi had his eyebrow raised. I didn't even notice when he pulled out a camera and snapped my picture. I only had eyes for the hazel orbs in front of me. "Show me," I said again.

Minoru gulped and slowly pulled his shirt up so I could see his stomach. There was an ugly purple bruise, right in the middle.

"Move, Imai."

Amethyst eyes glared at me, and the owner pulled out one of his baka guns. I sighed and turned my head to stare evenly at him. "Cool it Imai. I'm not going to do anything; just put him to bed."

Imai was quiet for awhile, but eventually put his gun away and nodded. He walked away to sit between Ruka and Youichi on the couch.

Taking a hold of Minoru's shoulders, I helped him into his room and shut the door behind us. "Get under the covers." I pulled the sheets back so the smaller boy could get in.

"Gosh, Natsume. You always act like you don't care about anything, and everything you say isn't always nice, but you actually do care, right? About a lot of things. You make it so hard for me to understand you."

I smirked. "What would a shortie like you know, huh Polka? You haven't seen anything yet. You've only known me for two days."

"Well, I guess that true, b- Wait… Polka? Isn't that…"

"The pattern on your boxers?" My smirk grew wider, as I pointed to the boxers pattern that was sticking out a little above his pants.

Minoru flushed a bright red. It didn't look right with the purple bruise on his cheek.

"Well, whatever. Get some rest, you probably need it. We start practice two days from now, and you need to be at your best condition. Can't have you bringing us down, Polka."

The auburn haired boy glared at me. "Get out of my room, jerk!" He threw a pillow at me, which I caught and put back on his bed.

Ruffling his hair, I said, "Night Polka." With that, I strolled out of Minoru's room, feeling very pleased with myself.

I noticed Imai had already gone back to her place, and Ruka and Youichi were talking quietly. They looked up when I approached.

"Oi Ruka. Let's go." Nodding at Youichi, I walked over to the front door, with Ruka on my heels.

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Ehehe… The idea for this chapter sounded better in my head, then when I typed it out. Oh well.

**So, the title of the chapter was Wings, right? Well I said I would explain it so here goes. Tsubasa's first name, when translated to English, is "wings". XD [8/27/10]**

**Please review, and no flames~! :]**


	10. Chapter 9: Interest

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Gakuen Alice or the characters from Gakuen Alice. I only own the characters that I made up myself.

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**Chapter 9: Interest**

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**[Mikan's POV]**

If I were a boy… I'd make the boy in front of me disappear… Or maybe actually get along with him. The two choices are pretty hard.

I don't get it.

Why is he here? Again. This is the third time. I stared at the crimson eyes in the doorway. Those beautiful eyes are driving me crazy. Wait, beautiful? No… Stop that Mikan. Just 'cause he keeps staring at you with those eyes does NOT mean that they are beautiful.

Okay, maybe they are a teeny bit beautiful, but the personality that comes with the eyes is pretty rotten. Yeah that's it. His only redeeming feature. The eyes… Well, that and the strange way he shows concern.

It's not like it bugs me. The fact that Natsume Hyuuga has been coming over every morning since the incident -snide comments and nicknames aside- has strangely made me happy. Not to mention that he has badass drumming skills, and can sing. Not that Youichi can't sing -he's pretty good actually-

Scratch that. Even though Natsume has badass drumming skills, he had the nerve to demand that he be able to leave his drum set in mine and Youichi's living room. He even went so far as to back up the demand with a threat, saying that he would burn my guitars and smash Youichi's keyboard.

We sweat dropped when he said that. It's not like we were going to argue with him about the drums in the first place. If he had let us talk, we would have told him that we would be more than glad to keep his drums at our place. The drums made a nice addition to our little jam sessions anyway. It made the songs we play more edgier.

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[Youichi's POV]

Natsume's taken a weird interest in Minoru lately. He probably hasn't realized it, but he has started to slowly change ever since he met my roommate.

It's not like he smiles or anything. He's probably been concerned ever since the night that Minoru had that… sick experience. Ever since then, Natsume's been here every morning. His excuse was that he wanted to join our morning sessions, but anyone could see that he had a different motive. He even sticks around after school and after practice.

I guess that night has put everybody in our group on edge.

Ruka has taken to walking Hoshi to school, -only to get shot by the baka gun- and follow him to his lab whenever he wasn't busy. Yesterday evening, when we had our first volleyball practice, I saw the blonde boy call Yuu to ask him to keep an eye on Hoshi; at least until practice was over and he could go himself.

Koko and Mochu just kept being themselves, besides the fact that they kept trying to lighten the mood whenever it got too quiet.

"Oi, what's this?" I saw Natsume pick up a photograph from the floor. He frowned for a second, then smirked. "Hey Polka, did you have some weird fetish for dressing up as a chick when you were little?" Uh-oh.

"Excuse me, you jerk?" Minoru scowled at Natsume, then went over to look at the photograph in his hand. He paled. "Where did you get that?" he whispered.

I scratched my head and walked over to them, sighing. "Chill. That's mine."

Natsume raised his eyebrow. "Why do you have a picture of Polka cross-dressing?"

"You dummy. That's my twin sister, right Youichi?" Minoru asked.

Scratching my head again, I nodded. "Yup. Her name is Mikan Sakura. Identical twin of Minoru. I've never seen the two together before, but I guess that was because I never went over to their house."

Minoru smiled. "Mhm. That, and I was home schooled because of my asthma. I don't have it anymore though."

"Doesn't explain with why he has a photo though." Eh. Wait, am I seeing what I think I'm seeing? Natsume has his eyes practically glued to that picture… and is that red on his cheeks? I must be seeing things, right?

"Ah, that's cause I used to be a weak kid with health problems. I began getting a stronger body in middle school. Mikan used to protect me from bullies, and she even beat them up. I used to play with her and Hoshi's twin, Hotaru. That was before I moved. I've had that picture since the day I moved away. Mikan is like a sister to me," I explained.

I gently pried Natsume's fingers from the photo and put it back in my wallet.

"Hn. Oi, Polka. What song we playing?"

"Hmm… How about _Over My Head_ by _The Fray_?"

"Hn. Just get going already. Youichi and I are all ready to go."

"Fine, fine."

Minoru cleared his throat and took a deep breath, then began singing.

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[Over My Head- The Fray]

____

I never knew  
I never knew that everything was falling through  
That everyone I knew was waiting on a cue  
To turn and run when all I needed was the truth  
But that's how it's got to be  
It's coming down to nothing more than apathy  
I'd rather run the other way than stay and see  
The smoke and who's still standing when it clears

Everyone knows I'm in  
Over my head  
Over my head  
With eight seconds left in overtime  
She's on your mind  
She's on your mind

Let's rearrange  
I wish you were a stranger I could disengage  
To say that we agree and then never change  
Soften a bit until we all just get along  
But that's disregard  
Find another friend and you discard  
As you lose the argument in a cable car  
Hanging above as the canyon comes between

Everyone knows I'm in  
Over my head  
Over my head  
With eight seconds left in overtime  
She's on your mind  
She's on your mind

Everyone knows I'm in  
Over my head  
Over my head  
With eight seconds left in overtime  
She's on your mind  
She's on your mind

And suddenly I become a part of your past  
I'm becoming the part that don't last  
I'm losing you and it's effortless  
Without a sound we lose sight of the ground  
In the throw around  
Never thought that you wanted to bring it down  
I won't let it go down till we torch it ourselves

Everyone knows I'm in  
Over my head  
Over my head  
With eight seconds left in overtime  
She's on your mind  
She's on your mind

Everyone knows  
She's on your mind

Everyone knows I'm in  
Over my head  
I'm in over my head  
I'm over my head

Everyone knows I'm in  
Over my head  
Over my head  
With eight seconds left in overtime  
She's on your mind  
She's on your mind

The music died down, and Minoru gave a cheesy grin. "Well, we should probably get going now, right?"

"Hn."

We all grabbed our bags and headed off for the school.

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[Natsume's POV]

Ever since I saw that picture, it's all that I've been able to think about. It wasn't the kid in the photo I was thinking about. Well, it was, but not the kid as a… kid.

If the kid in the photo was Minoru's identical twin sister, then she'd look exactly like him now, right? Only with longer hair.

Th-thump. Huh? Th-thump th-thump. Stop it heart. Ugh, why is it beating so hard?

I snuck a glance at my seatmate. Minoru Sakura; 16 years old, nephew of the Director, with a twin sister named Mikan. Other than that, I don't know anything about his background.

Mikan… I think I've heard that name before. It rings a faint bell but I don't remember. Maybe something from when I was a kid. Who knows. Not like my childhood was that great to begin with; no wonder I don't remember much.

Noticing that the auburn haired boy was spacing out, I glanced up at Jinno. Crap, he's looking this way. The way his fingers are clenched around that rod, I bet he's noticed that Minoru isn't paying attention. Shit.

I kicked Minoru's leg from under the table to get him back to reality. It seemed to work, since he shot me a what-do-you-want look. Seeing me jerk my head towards the front of the room, he got the message.

"Sakura." Too late.

"Yes Jin-Jin?" Came the innocent voice. Bad move.

"Answer the math problem I'm pointing to." Glancing at the problem, I saw that it was the hardest one up there. Leave it to Jinno to pick the problem that not many people can answer. Not that I couldn't solve it myself.

Minoru merely glanced at the problem for a few seconds before replying, "The answer is 3,486,916."

I raised an eyebrow. That should be the correct answer, alright.

Someone gave a low, slow whistle. We could all see Jinno's right eye twitching. "That is correct. I'll let your spacing out slide for today, but don't let it happen again."

"Yes Jin-Jin."

Wow. I didn't know the kid was so smart. I mumbled under my breath, "Good job, Polka." Hearing him hiss in response, I had to work to keep the grin off of my face.

___****_

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[After Volleyball Practice, 6:30PM]

**[Still Natsume's POV]**

I don't know what's going on, but it sort of leaves me feeling irritated. We've just finished our second practice, and the coach has been pretty rough with us. He's too hardcore, but I guess this is why the school's volleyball program is top-notch. Only the best can survive these damn practices.

And then there's Minoru. He always changes in the bathroom for some reason. Not that I'm disappointed or mind or anything. It's probably for the best. Who knows how many perverts there are in the other sports teams changing in the locker room.

But that's not the problem. We all see him in the locker room, and when we get into the gym. Nakagawa calls for us to get into our teams, and then nobody sees the kid for the rest of the practice.

Then we'd see him coming out of the bathroom afterwards, dressed in his school uniform. When anyone asked him where he had been, he would just laugh and shrug it off.

It's weird. I mean c'mon. Nakagawa told us that our first practice game would be in two weeks, and he immediately sends us into hell drills. The man acts as if we aren't practicing one member short. No pun intended.

Good thing it's Friday. I want to know what the coach makes Minoru do during practice. I'll wrangle the information out of him tomorrow at Central Town if I have to.

Heh. A smirk grew on my face.

"Ne, Natsume. Is something wrong?" I looked at the hazel eyes in front of me.

My smirk grew wider. "Nothing, Polka." I chuckled.

"Jerk."

We were almost back to the dorms by now, when I noticed Koko, Mochu, and Youichi looking at me strangely -Ruka had gone off to Imai's lab to pick him and Yuu up-

"What?" Their eyes only narrowed, scrutinizing me. "What," I repeated.

"…"

"Nothing," they replied.

_Everything you say to me_

_(Takes me one step closer to the edge)_

_(And I'm about to break)_

_I need a little room to breathe-_

We all raised our eyebrows to stare at Minoru, who was fumbling for his cell phone. He finally flipped it open, and said, "Hello?"

After a few seconds, a smile broke out on the auburn haired boy's face. "Hey, Tsubasa-nii! Central Town? Sure, of course you can!"

Tch. Did I mention that I don't like how close Andou is with Minoru?

____

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Hahaha. And here we go with Natsume's jealousy xD

**Song I used for Mikan/Minoru's ring tone: One Step Closer- Linkin Park**

**Next chapter will be about the gang's trip to Central Town, and this time, they'll come across some girls from the sister school.**

**Thanks again to those that review :D [8/28/10]**

**Please review, and no flames~! :]**


	11. Chapter 10: Trash

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Gakuen Alice or the characters from Gakuen Alice. I only own the characters that I made up myself.

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**Chapter 10: Trash**

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**[Saturday; 10AM]**

**[Hotaru's POV]**

If I were a boy… I would sell pictures of- OH CRAP! I forgot to tell Mikan something important!

I ran out of my room and over to Mikan's place. I didn't bother with ringing the buzzer. I used a lock picking invention instead. The door opened with a bang.

Youichi came out of the bathroom with no shirt on, and Mikan came out of her room. They both stared at me with surprise.

"How did you get in, Hoshi?" Youichi asked.

"Invention. It's able to pick the lock on any door with a keyhole, without touching the knob. I can give one to you… for a price." I said simply. Grabbing a hold of Mikan, I dragged her back into her room.

"Hey what's going on, Ho-"

I slammed the door, cutting off Youichi's question.

Mikan had her eyebrows raised. "What was that all about Hotaru?" she whispered.

"I forgot to tell you something. Well… two things actually. Here's the first. I got the Director to contact the Director of Hanahime Academy so that our real names are listed in their directory. In other words, we're like "phantom" students."

Mikan gaped at me.

Frowning, I said, "Stop that, you look like a fish. Here's the second thing… Anna, Nonoko, and Sumire are attending Hanahime Academy. And they know our situation." The brunette looked blankly at me.

Wait for it…

3...

2...

1...

"WHAT?"

"Calm down, idiot. They'll meet with us at Central Town. They don't mind if the guys are there, since they won't let slip about our real identities."

"This is GREAT!" Mikan jumped up and down with joy.

"I said calm down, idiot! Well we might as go wait at the bus stop. It's almost time for the guys to meet."

On our way out, we grabbed Youichi, since he was ready to go. When we locked the front door, we dragged Natsume and Ruka too, since they were waiting outside.

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[Mochu's POV]

Sigh. I don't see a single good looking chick in sight.

I looked over at Minoru, where he was talking with someone on his cell excitedly. The guy was practically jumping into the air. "!" He suddenly shrieked and started waving his hand frantically in the air. Hoshi was even smiling.

About to turn and see what the fuss was about, I felt a tug on the sleeve of my jacket. Koko. "What's wrong, Koko?" I started to get really confused when he started blushing like crazy.

The blushing boy pointed at a group of three girls coming towards our group. "The… the one with the green hair. I've seen her earlier this week when I went to a café for coffee. She is… _beautiful_."

Everyone in our group turned to Koko to stare at him. Minoru was trying hard not to laugh, and Hoshi was smirking. What's going on?

That was when I saw her. The girl walking between the girl Koko was going crazy over and some other girl. My jaw dropped. "Hey guys… do you see the girl with long pink hair? I… think I'm in _love_."

"Long, dark blue hair… So cute…" came a quiet voice. We all stared at Yuu. Holy crap! _The_ Yuu Tobita, class representative, blushing like mad because of a girl?

"Pfft." Minoru covered his mouth quickly. That didn't help, since he burst into laughter a second later. A second later, Hoshi's laughter followed.

"Minoru, Hoshi that isn't ve-"

"OH. MY. GAWD! MINORU! HOSHI!" came three girly voices. Those three hot chicks know our friends?

The three girls ran up and were about to jump on Hoshi, but since he pointed his baka gun at them, they directed their jump to Minoru. They tackled him to the ground, hugging him.

After they stood up, the green haired girl began yelling at our brown haired friend. "Minoru Sakura. You didn't tell us you would be moving here! We had to find out what happened from Hoshi! Thank _GOD_ the Director of your school got us into Hanahime Academy by recommendation. I don't know why he did it though."

"Permy! I'm so glad to see you, Anna, and Nonoko!" cried Minoru.

The green haired girl's eyes turned to stare angrily at Minoru. She began giving him noogies. "Who said that you could call me Permy, huh?"

She turned to the rest of us and smiled. She said, "Hello there. I'm Sumire Shouda, sixteen years old!"

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[Koko's POV]

Sumire Shouda, huh? Wow, she's the prettiest girl I've ever seen. I think I'm actually in love.

How cheesy can my thinking get? Well apparently I stopped thinking completely, 'cause before I knew it, I was standing right in front of her.

"I am Kokoro Yome. You can call me Koko. I am sixteen years old as well! And I… I'm in _love_ with you, so will you be my girlfriend?" Ah, crap. Stupid, stupid me! That was definitely _lame_.

Sumire looked at me with her dark green eyes, and to my surprise she started blushing. Which caused me to blush.

"Wh-Who do you think you are? How rude, I don't even know you! That's creepy!" she yelled.

Damn. Wait, why is she shaking so much? I probably scared her. She probably thinks that I'm some nut. Way to go, Koko. Feeling like I wanted to take my head and bash it into a tree, I heard Sumire speak again.

"Err… I don't know you, b-but you seem pretty okay. Why don't we start off as friends first?" She smiled shakily at me.

… What? My eyes widened with shock. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, I nodded and smiled at her. Wait… I'm always smiling. Haha.

It turns out that Sumire and her friends, Anna Umenomiya (pink hair) and Nonoko Ogasawara(dark blue hair), are Minoru and Hoshi's friends from middle school.

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[Mikan's POV]

_Everything you say to me_

_(Takes me one step closer to the edge)_

_(And I'm about to break)_

_I need a little room to breathe_

_('Cause I'm one step closer to the edge)_

_(I'm about to break)_

Looking at the number on the display screen, I answered the call. "Hello?"

I grinned. "A friend? Sure you can! The more the merrier! See you in a few minutes, Tsubasa-nii!"

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[Tsubasa's POV]

"You're going to love this guy. He's so adorable, and innocent."

"It sounds like you adore him."

I grinned at my long haired upperclassman friend, as we walked through Central Town to meet my cousin. "Well. He's family after all. Even though he's technically my cousin, it feels more like he's my little brother."

He nodded, and then frowned. "It's unfortunate about what happened the other night. At least nothing serious happened. Just be glad he got out of it with only scrapes, cuts, and a few ugly bruises."

"… But his picture. From what I saw, he looked like a total cutie. He could rival the prettiest girl, easily. What I find funny though, is that he looks exactly like this girl that I used to date," he continued.

Raising my eyebrow I asked, "Oh? How long? And what happened? What was her name?" Now I was curious.

My friend grimaced before replying. "Three months. I cheated on her… I regret it, believe me. And her name was…" he trailed off. He turned pale.

I frowned and waved my hand in front of his face. "Hey? What's wrong?"

"Mikan…" was all he said.

Eh? How does he know that name? I never told him about her.

"Tsubasa-nii! Over here!" yelled a cheerful voice. "Eh? Tono?" Now the voice sounded shocked.

Oh damn it to hell! Don't tell me… I turned around in time to see a boy with brown hair cover his mouth with shock.

I groaned inwardly. Not good.

**

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[Hotaru's POV]

No way. No way, no way. Why is that _thing_ here? This could ruin everything! What should I do? Shoot him with a baka gun? Or blast him away with a baka cannon?

"Mikan…?" the thing said.

I stepped in front of her. The _thing's_ eye widened. Of course he'd recognize me. My appearance hasn't changed much from the last time he saw me. Maybe he'll be stupid enough to believe the lie I'm about to say.

"Ho-" he started.

"I know who you are. You're that _idiot_ that had the balls to cheat on my twin sister's best friend. Akira Tonouchi. The _player_. I don't know who you think you are, but you don't have the right to confuse Minoru with his sister." I interrupted.

He blinked. "So he's the twin brother of Mikan, huh? He's just as cute as she is. I like him already," Tono grinned.

"Keep your damn eyes and hands, and _other_ parts to yourself, or I'll shoot you with my baka gun until your pretty face is unrecognizable."

He strutted over to Mikan. The idiot reached his hands out, and I could tell he had every intention of groping Mikan to see if he really was a boy. Before he could reach any further, three purses whacked him in the head, which sent him flying into a tree.

Ah. Right, I forgot that they knew him too.

**

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[Natsume's POV]

Tono? Who the hell is this guy? He cheated on Minoru's sister? What a lowlife. Hey, what the fuck does he think he's doing?

That damn guy is reaching for Minoru with his grabby hands! I was about to stand up, when three purses sent him flying into a tree. Huh?

I looked at the owners of the purses. What were their names again? Oh right. Shouda, Umenomiya, and Ogasawara.

The spunky one, Shouda, went over to Tono and stepped on him with her high heels. "I never thought that I'd ever see you again, you piece of scum. But now, I'm actually _glad_. I can give you the beating of a lifetime. One that I should've done a long time ago. Too bad you graduated and moved away before I could do some damage." Wow. She sounded like she meant it.

Then Umenomiya and Ogasawara came up to Tono. They each grabbed an arm and yanked him to his feet, not letting go. Both girls looked like they wanted to kill, which was a shocker considering that they looked like complete angels a few minutes ago.

The pink haired girl spoke up, in an icy tone. "Ne, Sumire… Nonoko. I believe we have unfinished business with Tono here. And by unfinished business, I mean _revenge_." She had said "revenge" in a scary whisper, that was still audible to the ears. It made everyone shiver, especially the teenaged boy in front of her.

Ogasawara giggled. "You're right. I hope the rest of you don't mind that we'll be leaving now. Let's just say we're going to _take out the trash_. See you guys around~!" With that, the three girls ran off, dragging Tono roughly along with them.

Everyone sweat dropped.

Then we heard snickering. Minoru and Hoshi were on the ground clutching their stomachs, shoulders shaking with laughter.

Minoru wiped his eyes. "Wow. I kind of feel sorry for the guy. Sumire is one thing, but for Anna and Nonoko to get angry… It's a bad thing. Being the target of an angel's wrath isn't very pleasant, much less two"

Hoshi patted him on the shoulder. "Don't feel sorry for that thing. He deserves everything he's going to get." He grinned wickedly.

That was when Andou stepped in. "Hey Minoru… I'm sorry about Tono. I didn't know. Honest. It must have been unpleasant to see him."

The brown haired boy smiled widely. "No problem, Tsubasa-nii. What's in the past, is in the past."

Andou hugged him.

I already hate Andou. Now this Tono guy has come into the picture. This is going to cause some problems.

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[Ruka's POV]

Natsume has been looking extremely bothered ever since Tsubasa and that Tono guy showed up. Is he angry? Or maybe… Jealous? Nah, can't be.

Poking my best friend, I asked, "Are you okay?"

"Hn." Of course. I sighed.

Now that I think about it, Youichi's been pretty quiet. Bad mood maybe? His expression makes it hard to tell what he's thinking. Oh well, I probably shouldn't dwell on it too much. It might be nothing.

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Thanks for reading~

_**By the way, does anybody know the color of Tono's hair and eyes? I wasn't sure, so I just described him with long hair only. If someone can tell me, I can add it.**_

_**Next chapter- I'm thinking of making two people discover that Minoru is a girl. But you'll just have to wait until the next chapter to find out who. Hahaha~**_

_**Again, Minoru's ring tone is the same as the last chapter. **_

_**Thank you to those that reviewed. [8/30/10]**_

_**Please review, and no flames~! :]**_


	12. Chapter 11: Discovered

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Gakuen Alice or the characters from Gakuen Alice. I only own the characters that I made up myself.

This chapter is set a week later. Oh, and thank you to those that told me what Tono's hair and eye colors are :]

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**Chapter 11: Discovered**

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**[Anna's POV]**

If I were a boy… I would become a stronger person. Not physically, but emotionally.

The girls (yes, Hotaru and Mikan included) and I were all sitting on blankets in a clearing in one of the small forests located on the island of Central Town. We had decided to have a picnic.

Sumire was inspecting her nails for flaws as she asked, "So, Hotaru… What happened to those guys that tried to rape Mikan? Did you ever find them?"

The raven haired girl looked up from the invention she was tinkering with. With a glint in her eyes, she said, "Let's just say that they are no longer attending the academy."

That's Hotaru for you. She probably blackmailed them, saying she would expose their darkest secrets to the entire academy. I learned that she had already gained the titles Ice Queen (because King didn't suit her) and the Blackmailer, in just one week. Just like at our middle school.

I giggled. "Well, anyways, let's eat! I worked all morning to make lunch and desserts. Don't let it go to waste now~"

"Okay!" came four replies.

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[Sumire's POV]

I sighed with satisfaction. Anna's cooking never failed to amaze me. I picked up a brownie and bit it. Delicious~

"Hey Permy, I thought you were on a diet."

Ignoring the urge to yell at Mikan, I calmly replied, "Mikan, of course I am. But who can pass up any of Anna's cooking?"

Anna giggled. "Don't worry, the brownies are sugar and fat free! No calories."

We all gaped at her. I gulped down the bite I was currently chewing on. "How can brownies like these not have those things? It tastes so sweet and yummy!"

The girls and I laughed when Anna blushed with embarrassment. "Aw, I'm just glad you like them."

Mikan glanced at Anna. "Say… Do you think I could take a couple of these with me back to the dorm? Mochu loves brownies.

I was surprised when the pink haired girl blushed an even darker shade of pink. "O-O-Of course y-you can! In fact, take this c-container and give it to h-h-him! There's more brownies in there," She stammered, handing Mikan a filled container of brownies.

Hmm… Someone's got a crush.

"Thanks. I'm sure he'll appreciate these. And I'll tell him _exactly_ who made these." Mikan grinned. "Ah! I just remembered!" She dug into her pocket, and brought out a piece of paper to hand to Anna. "It's Mochu's number. He asked me to give it to you."

I thought the girl would die from heat rush.

Ah. An idea popped into my head. I smiled widely at Mikan, with a glint in my eyes. "Ne, Mikan. Speaking of giving people things, and about how they would _love_ them… Do you mind giving me Koko's number?"

Before Mikan could answer, Hotaru grabbed my phone, tapped on the keys, and gave it back.

"That'll be 150 rabbits," she said.

Sweat dropping, I handed her the money. I'll never understand why the currency in this place is called rabbits, nor Hotaru's love for money.

_Rustle._

"What was that?" asked Nonoko.

I turned my head around to stare at the bushes and trees around our group. "Hmm… Probably just a squirrel or something. Whatever."

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[Nonoko's POV]

I blushed. "Do you think I could get Yuu's number from one of y-"

"That'll be 100 rabbits." Hotaru stated. I shyly paid her the amount.

"Hey! How come she got a discount?"

"Because Yuu is my roommate," came the monotone reply.

Hmm.. After Hotaru gave me the number, I asked, "Hey Hotaru… Mikan. Isn't it difficult living amongst a lot of guys? And you guys have to hide your real identity on top of that."

Hotaru shrugged. "Personally, I think that Hyuuga would be relieved to find out who Minoru really is. But it's better this way. The Director wants to keep an eye on his niece, and his niece wants to play volleyball. She wouldn't be able to do that at Hanahime Academy."

Our brunette friend smiled sadly. "If anyone found out the truth, there would be an uproar. The friends we made would probably hate us if they knew that the two newest members to their group are actually girls."

"I wish we could tell our friends the truth at least," she continued. "They've been so good to us, it hurts hiding things from them.

Amethyst eyes shifted to the floor. "She's right. They might find out sooner or later. Honestly, I doubt that we can hide for three years. Someone would be bound to notice. Besides that, Tono could complicate things. He's not as stupid as he looks."

Anna's eyes flashed. "Don't worry, Nonoko, Sumire and I will take of him when that time comes."

I nodded my head along with Sumire.

Wait. "Hey, wouldn't Tono know if Mikan had a twin or not?" I asked.

Mikan and Hotaru snorted. "Are you kidding?" they asked incredulously.

"Tono never even stepped foot in my house, or stuck his nose into my business. He only cared about being with pretty girls, and not the girl herself_. _He always cut me off whenever I wanted to tell him about myself, and tried to get him to do the same. I realized what an ass he was the day Hotaru and I caught him having sex with another girl. I'm glad that I never got intimate with him." Mikan said bitterly.

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[Mikan's POV]

Dark blue eyes turned to me. With a soft voice, Nonoko asked, "Mikan… out of all of the guys that know you as Minoru… who do you want to know you as _you_?"

I was thoughtful as I thought of her question. All that came to mind no matter how hard I tried to stop it, were the crimson, jewel-like eyes. A pang of guilt pierced my heart. How I wish he could know.

With a serious face, I said, "Natsume Hyuuga… But I don't think that he likes girls, so I have no doubt that he would just hate me if he found out… No matter how much I wish for it, he will never see me as anything other than a friend. I'm happy just being by his side."

Apparently this had moved the other girls to tears. Except Hotaru, although her eyes looked moist.

_BAKA!_

"C'mon idiot. We need to get back to the dorm. Get your stuff."

After I grabbed my stuff, I bid the other girls goodbye and let Hotaru drag me to a bus stop so that we could go back to our dorm.

**

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[General POV]

As the two girls walked out of the clearing, they failed to notice the sound of a running person ahead of them, over the wind that rustled through the trees.

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[Hotaru's POV]

What an idiot. Is she so blind that she can't notice the change in Hyuuga? The concern he has for her? How he sticks around just so that she'd be safe?

I thought of a certain boy with blue eyes that had recently begun showing the same signs as Hyuuga. I laughed bitterly to myself. I'm an idiot too. An idiot for not noticing until now the feelings in _his_ heart, as well as my own.

But there's one thing that I can agree with Mikan on: I'm happy just being by that blue eyed boy's side. Even though it hurts.

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[Koko's POV]

I can't think straight. But strangely, of course it all makes perfect sense now. As I got onto my bike lying on the ground outside of the small forest, my hands shook with shock. I rode away as fast as I could

Panting, I rammed my key the lock to my dorm room and kicked the door open. Once inside, I closed the door and locked it.

Mochu was in front of the television playing video games. He didn't even glance at the door. Good.

I hurried into my bedroom, slamming and locking the door behind me.

Slumping to the ground, I recalled what I just learned:

_I heard voices as I was about to ride past the small forest on my bike. They sounded familiar. A little ways inside, I snuck up to a tree to see who the people were._

_Nonoko spoke. "Hey Hotaru… Mikan. Isn't it difficult living amongst a lot of guys? And you guys have to hide your real identity on top of that."_

_Hotaru? Mikan? Aren't they Hoshi and Minoru's twin sisters? They're here?_

_Hotaru shrugged. "Personally, I think that Hyuuga would be relieved to find out who Minoru really is. But it's better this way. The Director wants to keep an eye on his niece, and his niece wants to play volleyball. She wouldn't be able to do that at Hanahime Academy."_

_Minoru is… a girl? Wait a minute, are you telling me that Minoru and Hoshi are just disguises? And we've been hanging around girls the whole time? _

_Min- Mikan smiled sadly. "If anyone found out the truth, there would be an uproar. The friends we made would probably hate us if they knew that the two newest members to their group are actually girls."_

"_I wish we could tell our friends the truth at least," she continued. "They've been so good to us, it hurts hiding things from them."_

_No Mikan… We wouldn't hate you. Especially not Natsume._

_Amethyst eyes shifted to the floor. "She's right. They might find out sooner or later. Honestly, I doubt that we can hide for three years. Someone would be bound to notice. Besides that, Tono could complicate things. He's not as stupid as he looks."_

_Tono? Wasn't he the long, black haired, violet eyed dude? I tuned out of the next sentence and listened again when Nonoko began talking._

"_Hey, wouldn't Tono know if Mikan had a twin or not?" _

_Mikan and Hotaru snorted. "Are you kidding?" they asked incredulously._

"_Tono never even stepped foot in my house, or stuck his nose into my business. He only cared about being with pretty girls, and not the girl herself. He always cut me off whenever I wanted to tell him about myself, and tried to get him to do the same. I realized what an ass he was the day Hotaru and I caught him having sex with another girl. I'm glad that I never got intimate with him." Mikan said bitterly._

_Ah, so _that's_ why the girls hate Tono's guts so much._

"_Mikan… out of all of the guys that know you as Minoru… who do you want to know you as _you_?"_

_The brunette put on a serious expression when she answered. "Natsume Hyuuga… But I don't think that he likes girls, so I have no doubt that he would just hate me if he found out… No matter how much I wish for it, he will never see me as anything other than a friend. I'm happy just being by his side."_

_No, no, no! That's not true! Youichi told me that Natsume was engrossed with that picture of your younger self. He's never showed any interest in a girl before, much less a photo. That should at least count for something. Even if he did find out, I'm willing to bet that he would be happy._

"_C'mon idiot. We need to get back to the dorm. Get your stuff." Hotaru said._

_Crap, I need to split before they find me! I ran off to find my bike._

Well… I can't say that I don't understand. Now that I think about it, Minoru and Hoshi look more feminine than any guy I've ever seen. It explains why Minoru always goes into a bathroom to change before and after practice.

Too bad Natsume couldn't have been there listening instead of me. Sure, he would be shocked, but he would be the happiest person on Earth. But it's not like I can tell him… Or anyone else for that matter. Hoshi… Hotaru would blackmail and shoot me to oblivion if she found out that I knew and told people.

I guess Natsume will just have to find out on his own. But I should probably talk to Min- Mikan about this. I'll do anything I can to help. But wait… How is she hiding her identity from Youichi? He of all people should have noticed. He IS her roommate after all.

But then again, he has been acting strange lately… Maybe he suspects something. This is frustrating. I'll have to find time to talk to Mikan. But not now… I have to completely get myself out of shock.

I heard a cheery voice outside my room. Mochu was happy for some reason. Whatever.

Grabbing my mp3 player, I put on my headphones and went to my bed to lie down, so I could think.

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[Youichi's POV]

There's something off about Minoru and Hoshi. They give off… I don't know. A different vibe than most guys? It's too… What's the word? Feminine?

I want to know why Minoru uses the bathroom in the locker room to change, instead of with the rest of us. It can't be that he's shy, can it?

I walked up the stairs to the third floor, where my "apartment" that I share with Minoru is, sipping on a vanilla latte.

Then there's Natsume. He's obviously in love with Minoru. Minoru has feelings for him too, but I don't think either of them notice. How could two people be so smart, but be so dense?

If being of the same gender is what's stopping them from seeing the possibilities, then damn. Their friends wouldn't mind, including me. As long as they're happy, that's all that matters. Crap. My thinking sounded girl worthy. Natsume's sister's opinions are rubbing off on me. Oh well.

By now, I was already inside the apartment.

Hearing the splashes of water, I assumed that Minoru was taking a bath, instead of a shower again. Something about it _relaxing_ him. Anyway, it would take him awhile.

Going over to my keyboard I started running my fingers across the keys, playing random tunes on it. I smiled. This was _my_ idea of relaxation. That and the jam sessions, but obviously I can't do one if one person is soaking in a tub, and the other is who knows where.

After ten minutes of messing around with my keyboard, I realized that my cell phone was in the bathroom. Hmm… Maybe I can get Minoru to pass it to me.

I walked over to the bathroom door and knocked loud enough so my roommate would hear. After hearing no answer, I knocked again. No answer. Jiggling the doorknob, I found that it was unlocked.

Eh… I'm sure he won't mind if I just went in to grab it. I opened the door.

When I walked in, the first thing I noticed was the reason why Minoru didn't answer me. His eyes were closed, with his headphones on. He was listening to his mp3 player. Eesh, the bathroom smells heavily of strawberries. Not that I mind.

The next thing I noticed was the answer to everything.

I stood where I was standing, frozen to the spot. My mind went blank.

Minoru slowly opened his eyes and looked in my direction. His hazel orbs looked dazed, but then it cleared. And when they did, his eyes widened with shock.

There is one word that is wrong about what I saw.

"Youichi," Minoru whispered, disbelievingly.

No, that wasn't what was wrong.

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Ha ha ha. Thanks to those of you that read and review :D

_**Heh. Poor Koko and Youichi. [8/31/10]**_

_**Please review, and no flames~! :]**_


	13. Chapter 12: Mikan?

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Gakuen Alice or the characters from Gakuen Alice. I only own the characters that I made up myself.

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Chapter 12: Mikan?

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**[Mikan]**

If I were a boy… Ah screw this, why is life so complicated? Especially mine.

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[Youichi]

Boobs.

I numbly rubbed my eyes with my hands and then looked back to the scene in front of me.

All I could think of were the boobs. Not large ones, but boobs nonetheless. Great, now I'm a fricking pervert. Kudos to you guys, Natsume and Mochu. "M-M…. M…" Great, where did my ability to speak go? No Youichi, that's not what is important right now, you shouldn't be staring!

Immediately I turned around, picking up what was left of my intelligence to at least mumble a "sorry".

"I… Please… It's not… Don't freak out on me Youichi, I'm begging you," squeaked a small voice coming from the direction of the bathtub.

"Mikan…?" I asked uncertainly. "Is that you?"

A soft sigh could be heard. "Yeah… Honestly, this isn't how I wanted to reveal myself, but looks like my cover is blown."

"Ah… It all makes sense now." And it did. All of the odd things that Minoru did, and all of the habits he had had suddenly made a lot of freaking sense.

"Wait, shouldn't you be more… I dunno, angry?" Mikan asked.

"Well… I… I guess it's not as big of a surprise as it should be," I replied honestly.

"Erm… Youichi? Do you think you could leave so I could climb out an-?"

I didn't need her to finish that sentence. I knew what she wanted, and I fled the bathroom, snatching my cell phone off of the counter as I did so.

"Well… I should probably explain this, huh?" Mikan giggled nervously.

After Mikan had disguised herself as a boy again, she joined me on the couch in the living room. Glancing sideways at her, I saw how nobody really questioned her gender despite the feminine appearance. She hides her… curves… well. I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Err… That would probably be best, probably." I murmured.

"Probably."

Ah screw it. Mikan and I broke into fits of laughter. "Mi… Mikan, this really isn't a laughing matter," I choked out. I cleared my throat to try to quell the laughter still racking at my body.

"Ha… Speak for yourself Yo-chan! Pfft." Mikan rubbed at her eyes and gasped with the effort to breathe normally. "Ah jeez, I haven't laughed like that in a long while."

I struggled to keep a straight face. "Now Micchi, I think it's high time that you explain what in the heck a girl like you is doing in an _all boys_ school." Really, the idea is just absurd.

The shorthaired brunette smiled sadly at me. "Well, Jii-chan passed away the day of my junior high graduation, so that was only a few months back." I stared wide-eyed at her, but didn't dare interrupt. "After that, I stayed with Hotaru's family. But one day, a man came claiming to be my uncle… Long story short, he said that he wanted me to come attend his school, but I'd have to disguise myself as a boy. And his school has an exceptional volleyball program, and I would be allowed to bring Hotaru with me." She grinned.

Hotaru…? I groaned out loud. "Oh my god, Hoshi is Hotaru."

"Bingo~"

Well that explains why I never heard of Mikan having a twin. He wasn't real. Wait a minute… "Mikan? Why is your voice so husky? Not that it's a bad thing, but I thought it would be a bit more… high pitched."

"Vocal training," she replied. I didn't even want to ask.

"So does anyone else know about your… predicament. Besides the Director, that is." I asked.

Mikan tapped her chin with a finger, pondering the thought. "Well, there's Hotaru of course. Oh, and her brother Subaru, remember him? He's the school doctor. Oh! And Uncle's adopted son, Tsubasa Andou."

Oh right, I forgot that he was Director Yukihira's son. "Is there anyone else?" I asked.

"AH! That's right! The girls! Anna, Nonoko, and Sumire know as well. That's one of the reasons that they're attending Hanahime Academy." Wow, now _that's_ an everlasting friendship.

I opened my mouth to say something, but then someone knocked on the door. Mikan shot me a panicked look.

"Y-Youichi… Are you going to tell anyone about this?" she stammered.

Rolling my eyes at her, I replied honestly, "Mikan, you're like a sister to me. Of course I wouldn't rat you out. I'm just glad that I know what the hell is going on now." With that, I stood up to go and open the door.

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[Mikan]

I sighed with relief when Youichi went to answer the door. I'm glad I can talk to him normally now.

Standing up so that I could go grab a soda from the kitchen, I was gently pushed back onto the couch. Looking up with confusion, my eyes met the expressionless brown eyes of Koko. Wait, expressionless? "Um, Koko…? Is something wrong?" Out of the corner of my eye I could see Youichi still standing by the now closed door, looking just as confused as I felt.

A shadow of doubt crossed on Koko's face, but then it was replaced by a sly grin followed by a serious expression. He sighed and plopped down on the couch right next to me. Boy is he acting weird today.

"Hmm… Perhaps. I'm not sure really. Two of my friends are a bit… odd, but you see, they're really great people to hang around with…" he trailed off. I really don't get what he's trying to say.

Youichi sat down in one of the chairs facing the couch, looking at Koko strangely. Koko stared right back at him. The dirty blonde boy let out another sigh.

Koko turned his head to stare me directly in the eye. "Minoru? I know your secret," he stated.

Youichi and I both stiffened. How could Koko know? Keeping a straight face and my voice even, I asked, "What do you mean, Koko? I don't understand."

Said boy raised an eyebrow. "I saw you with the girls in the clearing earlier. I was riding past the edge of the woods on my bike when I heard voices, so I went to go take a look… And yeah."

My eyes widened. Oh great marshmallows, _he_ was the weird noise that we heard? I turned my eyes to Youichi's blank stormy eyes. He seemed to fidget under my gaze and made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sigh.

"Now Koko… What exactly did you see? Neither one of us will know what to do to fix the problem unless you say it directly." Youichi said calmly.

The dirty blonde raised both eyebrows now. "Well, it's not exactly a problem per se. I just want to get some answers and the truth."

I cleared my throat. "Err… Ask away I guess."

"Are you really a girl?" Damn Koko and his bluntness. I hesitated but then nodded.

He let out a low whistle. "So those girls, Mikan and Hotaru, they aren't really your guys' sisters so much as you yourselves, right?" Again I nodded.

"And you're really the Director's niece?" Another nod.

"Wow… That's really something. But I don't understand why you're here instead of at Hanahime." Koko furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

I let out a small giggle. "If I went to Hanahime, I wouldn't have been able to play volleyball." Koko nodded with understanding.

"That makes sense."

Groaning, I said, "Oh man, Hotaru is going to kill me."

Youichi and Koko both chuckled. "Don't worry your secret is safe with us."

I grinned at them. "Thanks guys."

"But do you ever plan on letting the others know?" Koko asked.

Shrugging, I tapped my chin in thought. "Yeah. Eventually. I don't want them to know exactly who I am until the time is right."

"Exactly who you are?" Youichi asked.

I nodded. "You guys know my secret of being a girl. But recently, I discovered the truth about my parentage. I'd tell you both, but I think it would be wiser to keep it to myself for a little while longer."

To my surprise both boys nodded. "We understand. Take as long as you need, we're in no hurry," said Koko.

"But can you explain one thing though. I remember asking you before, but I'll ask again. How long did it take you to get so good at singing and playing the guitar?" Youichi asked. To be honest, I was surprised he still wanted to know.

Grinning sheepishly, I said, "Well you might not believe me, but it took a week."

They coughed. "WHAT?" Shouted Youichi.

"Well… It really is the truth. Hotaru found a vocal trainer that would be able to help me get my voice huskier, so that my real gender wouldn't be so easily identifiable. He works miracles, but now my voice is permanent. I probably won't ever be able to get my voice back to the pitch that it was at originally." Koko made a shocked noise.

I continued. "I was already an okay singer, so the singing wasn't particularly hard to perfect, so I worked my ass off on the guitar lessons when I wasn't doing training."

"Damn, you gave up quite a bit to go here." I nodded.

Youichi shook his a head a little. "I remember that you were so proud of your long hair when we were little," he said softly.

"That's true. But there's always the future, right? I can always grow it back then." I chirped cheerily. "There's really no use crying over spilled milk. I admit, I freaking _loved_ my hair, but attending this school deemed itself more important."

A hand reached out and ruffled my hair. "That's true. And if you didn't work your ass off to come here, I wouldn't have ever met you, and Youichi wouldn't have been able to meet his childhood friend," Koko beamed. Youichi murmured his agreement.

"When Natsume finds out, he'll be glad to know that he isn't gay," muttered Youichi.

My eyebrows furrowed with confusion. "What was that Yo-chan?" He merely shook his head, while Koko burst into fits of laughter, clutching at his stomach.

Stormy grey eyes shifted to meet my hazel orbs. "There's one thing that's been bugging me for a few days," Youichi stated.

"What would that be?" I asked. I wonder what he means.

Youichi hesitated then said, "Well, as soon as practice starts, you seem to just… disappear. What exactly does Coach have you do during practice, that would make us practice a player short? I mean, the practice game is coming up pretty soon, and we haven't seen your skills." Oh crap, I forgot about that!

"That's what I would like to know," came a voice from the doorway.

All three of us jumped in our seats and whipped our heads around to stare at the intruder. As soon as I looked, I felt all heat drain from my face. Koko gasped dramatically, while Youichi chose to stay quiet.

"Natsume," I squeaked.

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Sorry for the really really REALLY long wait. School has pretty much been the center of my focus, and on top of that, I absolutely had NO idea whatsoever how to finish this chapter. Hence, this chapter probably sucked, right? Well at least I tried. I just wanted to get this chapter done and over with so that I can start the next one. At least I got the ending exactly how I wanted it. XD I hope you guys enjoyed it anyway. [12/4/10]

_**Please review, and no flames~! :]**_


	14. Chapter 13: I'm So Confused

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Gakuen Alice or the characters from Gakuen Alice. I only own the characters that I made up myself… and this story/plot.

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Chapter 13: I'm So Confused

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**[Sumire]**

If I were a boy… I'd buy more fashionable clothing. You can _never _go wrong with the right clothes.

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[Mikan]

"That's what I would like to know," came a voice from the doorway.

All three of us jumped in our seats and whipped our heads around to stare at the intruder. As soon as I looked, I felt all heat drain from my face. Koko gasped dramatically, while Youichi chose to stay quiet.

"Natsume," I squeaked.

Raised eyebrow. "The one and only."

Clearing his throat, Koko grinned and asked, "And what exactly would you like to know, Natty?"

The crimson eyed teen glared at Koko's now innocent expression. "I'd like to know what Minoru here does during practice."

It took all of my restraint not to sigh with relief out loud. So he hadn't heard the earlier part of the conversation then.

Youichi, Koko, and I all relaxed in our seats. I closed my eyes momentarily, but when I opened my lids again, all three boys were staring at me expectantly.

"Well, klutz? You gonna explain yourself or what?" Typical Natsume. Can't wait for anything.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm getting to that. Okay so ya know how Nakagawa makes me practice with him, right?" They all nodded. "Well, apparently I have some of the 'maddest and talented' jumping skills that he's ever seen. So that I'll be used to it, he's been having me work on jumping for the ball for almost the whole of each practice, so that it's more controlled."

**

* * *

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[Youichi]

I looked at Mikan with surprise. "What? Jumping for the whole effing practice?" That sounds worse than what the rest of us were ordered to do.

Natsume frowned. "Jumping…" He shook his head. "You still have to have practice with the team before the practice game. Tch. That stupid Nakagawa isn't even polishing your other skills… Assuming you _have_ other skills," he smirked.

I know what he's trying to do. He wouldn't usually care about this sort of thing from the team as long as we brought out the best of our abilites. Well I'll be. Natsume's worried about Mikan. And he thinks she's a boy. This will be entertaining to watch as the days go on.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Koko roll his eyes with a grin on his face. Mikan did the same thing, minus the grin. "You jerk. Of course he's making me perfect my other skills."

"The fuck? How can you even have time for that if you're prancing around for two to three hours?"

With that, Koko burst into laughter. "HAHA! Natty, calm down. Heaven forbid the poor guy overexerts himself. Heh. I think he's trying to say that Nakagawa's been setting he- him… the ball, and he's been perfecting his aim and spiking, among other things, while working it all out so that it ties in with jumping."

"How the hell would you know that?" Snapped Natsume.

I shook my head, amused. Natsume doesn't like it when people figure out things before him. Especially Koko. He thinks that it's an insult to his intelligence. Ruka and I told him before that Koko just does it to tease him, but Natsume was too stubborn to accept that answer.

"Aw Natty, you need to learn to read between the lines better." Koko grinned pointedly at him.

**

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[Natsume]

Damn Koko. If he wasn't one of my friends, I'd have smothered him with a pillow the first chance I got. But then that wouldn't make me a very good friend, so I'll -attempt to- keep those thoughts to myself.

"Aw Natty, you need to learn to read between the lines better." Koko grinned at me weirdly. He must be implying that he knows something that I don't. Damn him. Now I want to know, but then again… Do I really? Curiosity killed the cat, after all. Knowing Koko, it's something unimportant.

More than anything, I want to smack that damn grin off his face. That's right.

Minoru cleared his throat. My eyes immediately snapped to his. Hmm… He has really nice eyes. They sparkle with innocence, and they're just so mesmerizing.

"… Sume."

And those lips, they look soft, like they belong to a girl.

"Natsume?"

His chestnut locks look soft, and I just want to run my fingers through Minoru's hair.

"Natsume!"

Even the way he says my name is amazing. I can think of numerous ideas to make him say my name. Just imagine all of the different ways I could get my name to roll off of his tongue, panting beneath my fingertips. All I would need is a bed.

"Natsume… Freaking marshmallows what is wrong with him?"

"I think he's spacing out. But that look on his face is kind of creepy," said Youichi.

Ugh. He's a _dude_, what the hell am I thinking? I. Am. Not. Gay. I'm so confused. It's pathetic really.

_Man, you really need to get laid._

What the fuck? Who are you? Get out of my head and leave me alone. Sick bastard. I refuse to sleep with some bimbo that only cares about looks.

_But I'm you. So if I'm sick, so are you. Damn, you're pathetic._

…

"Shit Koko, what are you doing?" asked Youichi.

"What does it look like? I'm taking pictures. Oh man, Hoshi would love to get his hands on these," said Koko.

_Smack_

What the fuck?

I blinked and looked down at the pillow lying at my feet. Confused, I looked around at the three people that were staring at me. "What?" I asked.

Minoru laughed. "Jeez Natsume. What happened to you? I've been trying to talk to you for the past few minutes."

"Hn. Whatever. What did you want?" I asked.

"I was trying to ask you what you came over here for."

Wait, why did I come over for? Shit. "I was looking for Ruka," I lied. Koko snorted, and Youichi looked amused. Damn them.

Minoru merely smiled at me, oblivious to my lie. "Ruka? I think Hoshi dragged him off to his lab. I don't know what for though. Probably got blackmailed into doing a photo shoot. You know how Hoshi is."

"Ah… right." I cleared my throat. "I'm uh… Going to leave now… Right. Hn." I backed away through the door and hurried back to my room as fast as I could.

**

* * *

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[Mikan]

I blinked at the spot where Natsume was standing just a few seconds ago. "Um… Did he seem a little… odd to you guys?"

Koko scoffed. "It's Natsume." He said it like it was the answer to everything. "Well. I guess I'll go too then. It's getting kind of late. I have some homework that's probably going to take me the rest of the weekend to finish, so I'll see you guys on Monday." He stood up.

That's when I remembered. "Hey Koko. Expect a phone call or text soon."

He shot me a confused look. "What? From who?" Just then, a loud ding was heard. Koko looked at me again, and then pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. Flipping his phone open, he gaped down at the screen like it he'd never seen it before. "No way," he breathed.

"Who is it?" Youichi whispered.

"Sumire."

"Ah."

To our astonishment, Koko slapped himself across the face. Then he pinched himself. "Ow." He broke out into the largest grin I've ever seen, then started rapidly pressing he keys on his cell phone. Thirty seconds later, another ding was heard. Koko looked as if he had won the lottery. Waving goodbye to us, he quickly rushed out of our apartment door, fingers flying in an excited attempt to answer his text message.

Youichi and I sat in silence for a few minutes, before he cleared his throat. "Well… What do you feel like eating, Mikan?"

I smiled warmly at him. "I'll go make some sandwiches, okay?" He nodded, and I walked off into the kitchen while he turned on our PS3.

When we began eating, it only took a few minutes before someone knocked on our door. Youichi groaned, and I sighed. He polished off the rest of his sandwich and got up to open the door.

Hotaru marched in a few seconds later. I paled, and gulped down my sandwich.

"Mikan," she said.

Oh marshmallows, please tell me that she doesn't know that Youichi and Koko know.

"I know that Youichi and Koko know."

"Well Hotaru, that's a really funny story actually…" My voice died away when I saw the look in her eyes. I glanced at Youichi for help, but his face was expressionless. Jeez Yo-chan, thanks for the help.

Hotaru sighed, and then turned to face Youichi. "You better not tell anyone, or I'll make sure that everyone knows that you still sleep with your Mr. Bear teddy. A photo will just accidentally slip into some crazed fans hands."

I glanced at Youichi, shocked. "You still sleep with Mr. Bear?" I remembered the teddy bear fondly. His mother had given it to him for his birthday before she and his father died when he was three.

The silver haired teen shrugged.

Amethyst eyes scrutinized Youichi. "Take care of her during games, and whenever I'm not around," she ordered. Youichi nodded in agreement, not wanting to anger Hotaru.

Someone knocked on our door yet again.

Youichi let out an exasperated sigh before wrenching the door open. "Great," he muttered sarcastically.

Two people shoved past him.

"Hey cousin!" shouted a familiar voice.

I grinned. "Hey Tsubasa." I looked passed him at the other person that entered. "What is _he_ doing here?" I glared at Tono, who merely winked.

Tono walked up to me, and leaned down. "Hey sexy," he purred. "You look just like your sister ya know. I could just... eat you all up," he said seductively. I didn't have to time to retort, since he got on top of me, straddled my waist, and covered my lips with his in the next second.

I flailed my arms and opened my mouth to try to scream, but he took the opportunity to stick his tongue into my mouth and explore. I froze, my eyes wide open with shock.

_Baka! Baka! Baka!_

Tono was wrenched off of me by three angry people, one of which was holding a gun. "You have ten seconds to get him out of here, Andou," stated Hotaru.

"Sorry… He followed me here, and then it was too late to make him go back…" Tsubasa apologized.

I nodded.

Tsubasa then hurriedly dragged a half-conscious Tono out the door. Youichi slammed it behind them, and locked it just in case. "What the hell just happened?" he asked.

Hotaru ran a hand down her face. "Tono happened."

We all stood and sat in silence, until we all decided to call it a night. This is going to be a long three years.

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Please read and review~ [;

**[1/2/2011]**


	15. Chapter 14: Game

To my followers that have been waiting practically forever for this, I deeply apologize. I hope you all are still frequenting this site and have not lost hope of this story continuing. Thank you for bearing with me, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Gakuen Alice or the characters from Gakuen Alice. I only own the characters that I made up myself and this story/plot.

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**[Friday, the day before the practice game]**

**[After Volleyball Practice, 6:30PM]**

**[General POV]**

Almost every single member of Alice Academy's volleyball team was on their knees in the gymnasium, panting, with their hands braced on the ground. The grueling practice had their bodies sweating with exertion, main team and alternates alike. No one was spared from Coach Nakagawa's wrath.

"Eh? What's this, what's this? Are you kids tired already?" He ignored the glares sent his way. "Ah well. Just remember to get a lot of sleep tonight. And stay away from the junk food tonight and tomorrow morning! I want to see you kids here at half past eleven. Now scram."

It was not surprising to have undergone a hard practice, but this one had been particularly harsh, the pressure of the next day's game looming in the air. The surprising part was the filled space of a position that had been previously empty since the first day of practice. They had all seen him before and after practices, but this was the first time the "phantom" member had participated with his team. Further, that member was the only one left standing, sweat being the only indication of his exhaustion.

Minoru Sakura was certainly an enigma.

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**[Ruka]**

Every muscle in my body was screaming in protest and I felt like I was going to lose the contents of my stomach on the gymnasium floor. I turned my eyes to the only person standing amidst the defeated bodies. Minoru is _incredible_! He was thrown into practice with the rest of us for the first time and it's like he's been with us since the very beginning. His movements are graceful and seamless. It's like he's on a completely different level.

"Incredible," I whispered.

I can only imagine how tomorrow's game will go. I hope the team will be able to work together as fluidly as we did today. I shut my eyes as a wave of nausea passed through me.

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**[Ten minutes later]**

**[Natsume]**

I could feel myself twitch with annoyance as I changed in the locker room. Damn that Nakagawa, he's the devil in disguise. He worked us all to the bone today, and I can almost swear he was smirking whenever I caught sight of him.

Then there was Polka. The shortest member of the team suddenly joined us today, the day before our first game, and he was the only one not completely exhausted when practice ended. I wonder if he always had that grace and stamina while playing volleyball or maybe Nakagawa had whipped him into shape better than the rest of us. Those few weeks where he had trained by himself had obviously paid off if he was able to keep up with the rest of us and then some.

"Practice sure was great wasn't it?" came a cheery voice.

I glanced to the side as Polka exited the bathroom, fully changed once again. He was smiling, obviously happy with the outcome of today's practice. His question was met with disgruntled mumbles from the rest of the team.

_He looks good when he smiles, doesn't he?_

I immediately scowled at my locker and slammed the door shut. I grabbed my duffel bag and quickly walked out the locker room, ignoring Ruka's "Hey!"

* * *

**[Mikan]**

It was great to finally play with the team!

Hearing a locker door slam shut, I looked over to see Natsume's back as he walked out of the room. It was clear that he was annoyed at something. I bit my lip as I reflected on the past couple of weeks. Ever since Natsume had walked in on mine, Yo-chan, and Koko's conversation, he had been behaving strangely. Not that he was completely normal to begin with. But every time he sees me his face turns red and whenever I try to talk to him he always gets annoyed.

Maybe the stress of school and volleyball practice is getting to him?

Speaking of stress, I keep running into Tono of all people. It makes sense since he and Tsubasa-nii are friends, but even when they aren't together I see him. Thankfully, someone usually happens to be with me when we run into each other. I don't think he has heard about my supposed enrollment at Hanahime Academy, but it is only a matter of time before he puts two and two together. He may be an idiot but he's not stupid. Who knows what he would do?

**[7:10PM]**

Ruka had invited all of us to the suite he and Natsume shared for dinner, seeing as they were the only ones that still had actual cooking ingredients. It was obvious that neither the hosts nor the team members had the energy to cook, so Hotaru, Yuu, and I volunteered for the duty.

I say that the three of us volunteered, but Hotaru just sat at a chair in the kitchen and tinkered with her baka gun. Yuu did not have much cooking experience but he helped me prepare the ingredients and watched interestedly as I cooked tonight's meal –curry-, asking questions here and there about why I was doing certain things.

I grinned teasingly at him as I stirred. "Ne, Yuu. Anna is an expert in the kitchen and I know for a fact that some of her skills have rubbed off on a certain blue haired girl. I'm sure she'd love to give you some pointers if you were interested."

Yuu turned a deep shade of red and adjusted his glasses. "O-o-oh, is that so?" He turned his gaze to the curry and looked at it as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. I snickered to myself.

After stirring for the last time and tasting to see if the curry was to my satisfaction, I turned the stove off and looked for where Ruka kept the bowls and utensils. Setting them on the counter, I turned my attention to the living room where the rest of the guys were talking quietly.

"Hey guys, dinner is ready. Get your butts in here!" I yelled at them. They all perked up instantly.

"YES!" yelled Mochu. Not surprisingly, he was the first one into the kitchen. We all shook our heads at him.

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**[Ruka] **

Minoru and Yuu were both dishing out curry and rice and passing around bowls. Imai was at the counter tinkering with his baka gun while eating crab roe and a rather large helping of curry and rice.

When everyone was served we all moved to the living room. "Itadakimasu," chorused everyone. We all took our first bite, and everyone besides Imai, Natsume, and Youichi gasped with delight. It was delicious! I glanced over to Natsume who was staring rather intensely at Minoru. The cook remained oblivious to his stare, blushing at the compliments he was receiving on his food.

"Ne, Yuu," Minoru said. "You helped too you know."

Yuu blushed. "I only helped prepare, you were the one that did the actual cooking."

"Well, you both did an excellent job. This is delicious!" Mochu held up his empty bowl. "Can I have seconds?" We all laughed as he sped off to the kitchen.

I knew I had a ridiculous expression of delight on my face. I couldn't help it, the food was so good. Camera flashes suddenly assaulted my senses. "Imai, please stop that!" I covered my eyes as the flashes threatened to blind me. What is with him and taking pictures of me? I'm not the only victim, but I seem to be the one he targets the most! I know he keeps them for blackmail purposes and sells some for profit. I don't mind him doing that, it's just that he always snaps away when I do something embarrassing!

Something jumped onto my lap and I cursed my luck. Please don't be what I think you are, _please_!

"Oho. What have we here? Nogi has a fluffy little Usagi-chan," Imai said in a monotone voice.

Crap. I opened my eyes, and lo and behold there was my cute rabbit. I resisted the urge to pet him and glared at Imai instead. "How do you know it's mine? It could be Natsume's for all you know," I said a bit childishly.

"I know everything. Does Hyuuga seem like a person that would be the owner of a cute fluffy little rabbit to you?" Natsume glared at Imai's usage of his last name but said nothing.

I blushed out of embarrassment and sighed in defeat. My hand ran over Usagi out of habit –I'm not very original with naming things- and I ignored the camera flashes that resulted from it. I was probably going to regret giving Imai even more blackmail material but I refused to let him get in the way of giving my precious rabbit the attention he deserves. I pulled a carrot out of my pocket and put it on my lap so Usagi could access it. I had felt him sniffing at my pocket.

Why do I always give in to Imai?

"Man, I am so full," Mochu complained.

We all sweat dropped at him. It wasn't surprising that he was full; he had just finished his fourth bowl after all. Most of us were still working on our second. It was surprising how delicious the food was, revealing another one of Minoru's talents. Smiling at the peaceful atmosphere, the result of a delicious meal, I happened to look up. Right at Koko, who was smiling rather mischievously at Natsume. Oh no.

"Oi, Natsume. Minoru would make a wonderful _wife_ wouldn't he?"

Both said people choked on their curry. Natsume turned an interesting shade of red, but I couldn't tell if he was blushing or it was the result of choking on his food. Hmmm. Minoru on the other hand, was protesting rather vehemently about his wife aptitude and waving his arms around as if they were his backup points. Most of us chuckled at his behavior. That is, until Imai shot him with his now upgraded baka gun.

My eyes lingered on Natsume for a moment, intrigued that a hint of pink still lingered on his cheeks despite his poker face. I wonder…

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**[Natsume]**

I hate Koko sometimes. I really do. He has this irritating talent for guessing what people are thinking and then voicing it. Thankfully everyone treated his words as a joke, though I could feel Ruka's gaze on me for a moment before he turned his attention elsewhere. I let out a breath I wasn't even aware of holding.

Polka. Who knew that runt could cook so well? It's like he is good at everything. I scowled at my now empty bowl of food. Well, that's not true. His drawings are absolutely abysmal. I had seen him doodling in class, and they all looked like a five year old had drawn them.

My mind drifted off and my eyes closed before I was aware of it. Polka was standing in front of a stove, stirring a pot. He turned around and smiled at me, and I noticed the frilly pink apron he was wearing. It was an odd colored thing for a guy to wear but it was surprisingly cute on him. Before my eyes, his hair grew longer until it was past his shoulders. _What_?

"Natsume wake up, everyone's starting to clean up."

His lips had a slight shine to them, indicating that he was wearing lip gloss. They looked enticing. He turned to the side and absently stirred the contents of the pot, lifting the spoon to lick it and taste his efforts. My mouth went dry. That's when I noticed the slight bulges on his upper chest. I gasped.

"Natsume? You don't look so good. I think you should go to bed now, the game is tomorrow after all." I opened my eyes and Ruka's face came into focus. He frowned with concern at me.

Oh great, not again. I reached out and pinched Ruka.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed.

"Not still dreaming then," I mumbled to myself.

Ruka looked at me with raised eyebrows. "I'm pretty sure you're supposed to pinch yourself."

I glared at him and put my bowl into his hands. "I need some sleep. Night, Ruka."

He smiled gently at me. "Shall I give your excuses to everyone?"

"Hn."

I shut the door behind me when I entered my room. Sighing to myself, I yanked off my clothes and pulled on pajama bottoms that were hanging over my desk chair. I didn't have the energy to do my nighttime bathroom routine so I just collapsed face first onto my bed, not even bothering to get under the covers.

Turning my head, I stared at the wall. _If Polka were female he really would make a wonderful wife_. Shut up, you. As sleep overcame me, I was aware of how screwed I was.

I have a crush on _Polka_.

* * *

**[The Next Day, 11:30AM- Gymnasium]**

**[General POV]**

Coach Nakagawa stared at his volleyball team through narrowed eyes. "Jog around the gym" was all that he said before he moved over to the bleachers and sat down.

None of them were stupid. The only order they were given was to jog around the gym. That meant that they were to jog until told otherwise. The members all looked at each other and shrugged. An order was an order.

Minoru Sakura tilted his head and looked at the raven haired male standing near him. "Ne, Natsume. How long do you think we'll be jogging this time?" The male glanced at him for a moment and then jogged off without replying. Minoru blinked after him. "What's wrong with _him_?" he mumbled.

"Sakura, get to it!" yelled Coach Nakagawa.

Minoru yelped. "Yes sir!"

Half an hour later they were all still jogging, albeit rather slowly. The members of the volleyball team had built up a light sweat and were starting to get bored with mundane jogging, but none dared to stop. The first and last time people decided to walk instead of jog had resulted in practice being extended for another half hour.

The coach suddenly blew a whistle that he had hanging around his neck, indicating the end of the jog. He waited until every member was standing in front of him before speaking. "Listen up, you brats! Today is the big day. You are to treat the guest team with respect if you come across them, but that doesn't give you permission to show them mercy on the court. I want all of you to put forth your best efforts." His eyes shifted to look at each member of the team. "The game is at 4 o' clock sharp. You brats will be in the locker room and dressed to play no later than 3:20PM. Now scram!"

* * *

**[Mochu]**

"I can't believe that was all we showed up for," I said as we walked out of the gym. Don't get me wrong. Nakagawa is a great coach, but sometimes he can be such a pain in the ass. My friends all mumbled their agreements.

Koko lifted his arms and stretched. "Ah well, at least we have some time to mess around. What should we do?"

"Hey, you guys!" yelled a familiar voice.

We all turned to the direction of the voice and saw Yuu and Hoshi walking towards us, closely followed by three girls. My heart skipped a beat when my eyes fell upon Anna and my posture immediately straightened out. I smiled at her and felt relieved when she returned the gesture.

Okay, be cool Mochu. I started walking towards to her. Be cool. There are just a few more steps to go. Be- "Ack!" I exclaimed as I tripped. Not cool, Mochu.

Two small hands quickly reached out to steady me. I looked into sky blue eyes and blushed out of embarrassment. "Sorry, Umenomiya" I mumbled.

Anna giggled. "It's alright, it happens to everyone. And you can call me Anna."

I blushed again. "A-Anna," I stuttered. I frowned at my weak attempt. The pink haired angel put her hand on my arm and smiled encouragingly. "Anna," I said more confidently. I could not help but smile when she beamed.

Someone made fake retching noises behind me. I didn't bother turning around.

* * *

**[Koko]**

I made fake retching noises behind Mochu's back, but he did not turn around. I know he heard me though. Quickly forgetting him, I met Mikan's eyes. We both grinned at each other and turned to face a certain green haired girl.

"HEY PERMY!" we yelled simultaneously.

Sumire immediately glared at us as we grinned and waved wildly at her. She put her hands on her hips. "How many times do I have to tell you two to stop calling me that? I have a name you know," she stated.

I laughed and walked over to her, much more smoothly than Mochu had attempted. "And it's a lovely name for such a lovely girl. Beautiful, even," I said. I smirked inwardly when her cheeks turned pink. She looked like she wanted to say something but looked away instead and harrumphed.

"Thanks," she muttered.

Grinning, I leaned my face towards hers. "I'm sorry, Permy. I didn't hear you."

Sumire turned her head back to me, momentarily surprised by the close proximity to my face. The green haired girl quickly glared and stepped back. She placed her hands behind her back and stuck her nose in the air. "I said flattery will get you nowhere, Yome" she stated.

"I only speak the truth, Permy. So what brings you girls over to Alice?" I asked.

"Anna and Nonoko convinced me to come," she said unconvincingly. "Minoru mentioned that you all have a game today, and they wanted to watch. I had nothing better to do so I tagged along. Now come on, let's all grab lunch at Central Town."

Chuckling, I read in between the lines. By "they" she meant "we". She is such an interesting girl.

* * *

**[5:15PM- Gymnasium]**

**[General POV]**

The game was starting to take its toll on everyone. Every single person on the court was sweating with exertion. The fourth set had just been completed, so now it was time to move on to the fifth and final one. The guest team had won the first and fourth sets at 25-20 and 25-18. Alice Academy had won the second and third sets at 25-9 and 25-18.

On Alice Academy's side of the court, a raven haired male swiped the back of his hand across his forehead. He glared at the opposing team. '_We just need to get to fifteen points first and we win_,' he thought. His eyes spotted the shortest member of their team, who had a look of fierce determination on his face. It was a struggle, but he tore his eyes away and focused on the opposing team who was about to serve the ball. He was oblivious to the stares of his best friend and a certain inventor.

A group of five people sat in the bleachers closely watching the game. Hoshi Imai gazed calculatingly at Natsume Hyuuga with a stoic expression. His companions were all in different states of worry. Yuu Tobita was biting his lip worriedly, while Anna Umenomiya and Nonoko Ogasawara were holding hands and bouncing their right legs agitatedly. The most noticeable of them all was Sumire Shouda, who had earlier acted as if it were a chore for her to be there. She was leaning forward with elbows on her knees, hands pulling on the ends of her green hair.

* * *

**[Sumire]**

I groaned involuntarily as the opposing team scored another point, ignoring the stares of my companions. The set was currently at 11-11. "Oh, I can't watch this!" I shut my eyes and continued to pull at my hair while chanting to myself. If I had been looking, I would have noticed a certain boy on the court grinning amusedly at me.

Come on, come on. Win! WIN! Please let them win.

The horn blew, signaling the end of the game. A hand gently shook my shoulder. "Sumire, the game is over. You can look now," said Nonoko.

I opened my eyes and peered at her rather nervously. "W-who won?" Clearing my throat, I repeated the question.

Anna and Nonoko both pointed at the scoreboard. " The game goes to Alice Academy," they said simultaneously.

I sighed with relief.

They all chuckled at me. Curse them!

Turning my eyes to the court, I noticed that the teams and coaches were shaking hands with each other. The guest team looked to be offering their congratulations. At least they were graceful losers. Glancing at each person on the court, I frowned when I did not see Yome anywhere in sight. Hmph.

Hands covered my eyes from behind, startling me. I swiftly elbowed the assailant, who grunted and removed their hands from eyes.

"Geez, Permy. You have surprisingly hurtful elbows."

Gasping, I turned around. "Yome! What are you doing over here? Shouldn't you be down there with the rest of them?"

To my irritation he laughed. "Now why would I be down there when I could visit my biggest fan? You looked like you were really getting into the game." He leaned forward and put his arms around me.

I blushed, but then remembered that he was sweaty from the game. Scowling at him I exclaimed, "I don't know what you are talking about, Yome. You are in bad need of a shower! Shoo, I don't want your sweat on my clothes!" He dodged the hand that I tried to swat him with and jogged down until he reached the court and disappeared around a corner that I assumed led to the locker rooms. Looking around, I saw that I was the only left in the bleachers. "Hey!"

As I got up to leave, my cell phone chimed. '_One new message from Kokoro Yome_'. Raising an eyebrow, I opened it and gaped. '_Dinner? :)_' So cocky! What is he thinking? Should I give him an affirmative? I bit my lip as I decided what to do.

'_Fine, but you're paying_'

* * *

**[1/7/14]**

**So a lot of things happened in this chapter, ne? Romance is hitting all of them! HAHAHA!**

**I hope this was well worth the three year (yikes) waiting period! I have already started the next chapter.**

**R&R please~!**


	16. Chapter 15: Dinner or Date?

HA! It did not take three years this time to update. It only took a few days! Thank you to those that added to the favorites list, and follow/review this story! I really appreciate it. If anyone has any questions that I can answer without revealing anything major, feel free to PM me or leave a review. Suggestions are also welcome and I will take them into consideration.

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Gakuen Alice or the characters from Gakuen Alice. I only own the characters that I made up myself and this story/plot.

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**[Sumire's POV]**

If I were a boy… I would hurry up and not leave a girl standing alone outside!

I was sitting at one of the benches outside of the gymnasium, waiting for Yome of all people. Why did I agree to this? How much time does a guy even need to shower? It's getting cold out here!

Groaning inwardly, I fished my compact mirror out of my purse and opened it for what felt like the millionth time. I inspected my reflection once again making sure not a hair was out of place. I hadn't put on much makeup this morning, only foundation and eyeliner. Frowning at my reflection, I worried that it was not good enough.

Should I put on lipstick or lip gloss? Do I want to go for sexy or casual? Sexy would give Yome the impression that I'm interested in him, and I do not want that. Even though I _am_ interested, but he does not need that piece of information. It might go to his head and inflate it past the point of no return. But if I do casual and put on lip gloss I would look inviting but not interested. Or maybe I should do neither, my lips are perfectly fine. I think. I reluctantly put the compact back where it belonged.

Wait. Maybe he did not mean a date and everyone else will be there. All he said was "dinner". Wouldn't he want to celebrate the victory with our friends? I quickly stomped on the bubble of panic that rose up inside of me. I am probably worrying about nothing.

My right foot began tapping against the ground, an annoying habit that only happens when I get nervous. I was about to go to dinner with a good looking boy after all. I noted the time from my watch. It had been twenty minutes since he had sent that message. The cold was starting to get to me, which was not surprising since I was wearing a short sleeved blouse and no jacket. I shivered when a particularly strong wind blew over me.

Someone draped a hoodie around my shoulders and I yelped out of fright. I turned around and saw that it was the very person I had been waiting for. "Yome! Make some noise will you? You almost gave me a heart attack."

He smiled, but then again he was always smiling. "You looked cold. Sorry to keep you waiting, Coach wanted to talk to the team. Shall we get going?" He held out a hand, offering to pull me up from my seat. I gladly took it.

I put his hoodie on properly and relished the immediate warmth it brought. It was green, almost the same shade as my hair. "It seemed like no time at all. My phone kept me busy," I lied. His smile turned knowing and I quickly looked away.

We had to run the last few feet to be able to catch the bus going to Central Town in time. Yome began laughing once we sat down, and I could not help but join in. It really was funny how we had almost missed the bus. I probably would not have been laughing if we _had_ missed the bus though.

My seatmate suddenly stopped laughing and turned his head to smile at me. After a minute I started to become worried that something was on my face. "What?" I asked.

"You're beautiful," he stated.

The heat that crept into my cheeks was something I could not stop. It was the third time he had surprised me today, fourth if you count the hoodie. I gave him a small smile.

We spent the rest of the ride in companionable silence.

* * *

**[Koko]**

Permy was right by my side as we walked through Central Town, looking everywhere but trying to be subtle about it. She must be wondering where I'm taking her.

"You won't find it until we get there, Permy," I teased.

I did not have to look at her to know that she was trying to glare a hole through my head. "I do not know what you are talking about," she said. "I am just looking at the shops. There's so many here with such a wide variety. And stop calling me that."

"But you've been here before."

She sighed wistfully. "The first time I was here the girls and I had to deal with Tono so the trip was cut short. The second time was earlier today for lunch, and it was so crowded I did not get a good look. It seems like a different atmosphere now though. It's a bit quieter."

By now we had reached a pleasant looking place named Central Diner. It wasn't an original name but fitting since it was in the middle of Central Town. "Here we are," I stated.

Permy stuck her hands in the pockets of my hoodie and peered curiously at the place. She didn't seem disappointed so that must be a good sign. I reached out to open the door and held it open so she could pass through. Her eyes widened with surprise but gave me a small smile as she walked inside. Was she not used to guys being a gentleman?

I walked in and shut the door behind me in time to hear Permy whistle under her breath with appreciation. "This is the most non-diner looking diner I have ever seen."

"They did a great job with the place didn't they?" I laughed.

The owners really had outdone themselves. It was a diner that served American food but instead of the blandness of a typical diner, they had instead painted the place with warm earthy colors and the backs of the booths were tall to give people more privacy. The spacious middle area held large circular tables for parties of people or those that wanted to eat out in the open. The lighting was not the typical bright either, but a pleasant glow.

A waitress came up to us just then. "Two people?" she asked.

"Yes please," I answered.

"Do you want a booth or out in the middle?"

I looked to Permy for her opinion. "Booth, please," she said. The waitress nodded and grabbed two menus before showing us to our seats.

As soon as she left I grinned at my companion. "Wanted to be alone with me that bad?" I teased.

"Shut up, Yome." She opened her menu and held it in front of her so I couldn't see her face. I stared at her with surprise before chuckling and opening my own menu.

Hmmm. What should I get? I am definitely getting dessert. Or maybe I should just get a milkshake?

"Hey, do you want an appetizer?" I questioned. "The entrée portions are pretty decent so that might not be a good idea. How hungry are you?"

She hummed. "Well, I was hoping we could talk. The appetizer might get in the way."

"Whatever you say, Permy."

The waitress came back just then to take our order. I ordered a chocolate milkshake while Permy just wanted water. When asked what I wanted for my meal I replied with, "I'll have a medium well steak with a baked potato and vegetables for the sides, please."

"And you, Miss?"

I held my breath hoping that Permy was not one of those girls that only ordered salads to watch their figures. Her figure was fine the way it was. Honestly, depending on what kind of salad and dressing you get, sometimes you're better off just buying an entrée.

"May I have the shrimp pasta please?" I let out my breath, relieved.

"That comes with a salad. Do you want to substitute that with something else?" the waitress asked.

"Hmmm, I think I'll stick with the salad. With Italian dressing."

"Alright, I'll be back with your drinks in a moment."

I stared at my companion with an amused smile. She didn't order a salad by itself, but an entrée that came with a salad. She's a smart cookie. The waitress came back sooner than I expected and placed our drinks on the table before moving to her other customers.

"So, how do you know Mikan?" I asked.

My question caught her off-guard just as she was taking a sip of her water. She choked and coughed. "W-what?" she asked.

I smiled indulgently at her. "Minoru's twin sister," I said. Maybe saying that I already know who Minoru really is would be a bad idea. I could mention it after we eat; I don't want to worry her.

She sighed with what sounded like relief. "Oh, right. I went to middle school with her and the others. We were in the same class. Actually, we were not friends at first. I was a little stubborn back then thinking that I was above others, and Mikan's personality was so bright that it was a bit annoying. My attitude did not get me a lot of friends."

"How did you become friends?"

Permy looked to the ceiling as she thought. "I don't really remember when. But she always greeted and tried to talk whenever she saw me. I usually ignored her, but eventually she grew on me. Before I knew it, we were having actual conversations and I was just sort of integrated into their group. We've been close ever since." She smiled fondly at the memories.

"Oh my freaking marshmallows, Koko and Permy are here!" exclaimed a familiar voice.

"That is exactly how she would greet me," she said.

Oh no. We both froze and looked at each other nervously. I was not nervous that we were caught, but I was worried about what Permy's reaction would be.

Mikan, Hotaru, Ruka, Natsume, and Youichi all stood there staring at us. The former two were in their male forms as usual. The guys smirked at us, while Hotaru had no expression whatsoever. Mikan was smiling openly, clearly ecstatic.

"If we knew you two were going to end up here we would have asked you to come with us! Wait. Are you two on a d- mph! "

Hotaru covered Mikan's mouth with her hand and started dragging her away to their table. "They are clearly busy. They do not need an idiot like you disrupting them," she said coldly. The guys followed them, Ruka looking back once to smile at us apologetically.

I gave Permy an apologetic smile of my own. "Sorry, if I knew they were coming I would have taken you somewhere else."

To my surprise she shrugged. "I'm not too bothered. Imai took them away just in time, otherwise that would have been more awkward than necessary. Let's just forget them and enjoy the evening."

"I thought you would have been embarrassed to be seen with me," I said truthfully.

Permy inhaled a sharp breath. "You are an imbecile," she said angrily. She banged her fist on the table which made our glasses wobble dangerously. I swiftly reached out and righted them. "If I did not want to risk being seen with you this date never would have happened, Yome."

"Oh?" I asked, pleased. "This is a date?"

Her eyes widened. "D- Dinner. I meant dinner!"

"Well, it _is_ dinner. But it is a _date_ also," I said. I smiled at her with my lips closed.

Permy looked shocked for a moment before clearing her throat and turning her head to look out the window. "That's good then," she muttered.

* * *

**[Mikan]**

"Hoshi, you didn't have to do that," I whined.

My best friend in the whole world stared at me with a blank expression. Her violet eyes told a different story. They said "I can't believe what an idiot you are". I shivered. It is not _my_ fault that those two are on a date.

Even Natsume and Yo-chan are giving me that look. I did not do anything wrong! Okay, _maybe_ it was a llittle rude that I was being loud in a fine establishment such as this, and _maybe_ I should not have started to ask Permy and Koko that question. But I was just curious!

Ruka smiled at me sympathetically. He is obviously the only kind soul here. "You were amazing today," he complimented me.

I beamed at him. "Really? Thank you! You were amazing too. We all were actually."

"Yeah, it was amazing that such a short person can jump so high," Natsume said. Everyone laughed, even Hotaru. They are so mean to me.

Ruka turned to Hotaru and smiled at her. "Did you enjoy the game, Imai?"

Hotaru nodded. "I was able to gather some good blackmail material," she said indifferently. Her eyes flashed with money signs. "The money will be rolling in on Monday."

We all sweat dropped. I could not find it within myself to look at anyone sympathetically. I knew she was planning on going to Hanahime Academy on Monday to sell the copies of those photos. Besides, my pictures as Minoru were among them and there was no way I was going to put a dent in my pocket just to stop her. What a demon.

The waitress came by to take our orders. Good thing too because we were all hungry. That game sure took all of our energy.

All of us fell into an amiable conversation about the game, Natsume and Hotaru occasionally throwing in their two cents.

Movement at the front window caught my attention. It turned out to be a fashionably dressed girl around my age. Her hands were pressed against the window and she was staring fixedly in the direction of our table. Our eyes had not met so I was not her target. I followed her gaze to… Natsume? Oh, it's probably just one of his many fan girls from Hanahime.

I frowned and was about to turn back to my group's conversation when the girl suddenly looked at me. She scowled, turning her pretty features unattractive. I repressed the urge to shiver.

"What's wrong?" Hotaru asked.

Biting my lip, I glanced at her before looking back to the window. The girl was gone. "Nothing," I replied. "I must be imagining things."

"Alright."

Yo-chan, looking bored, swirled his straw around the inside of his cup. "We haven't had a lot of time to mess around lately," he said thoughtfully.

I looked at him confused. "Well of course not. Coach and school take up all of our time."

Natsume rolled his gorgeous red eyes at me. Wait, gorgeous? "He means that morning sessions have not been happening as a result of those things."

My mouth formed an O shape. "Oh, right. Tomorrow is Sunday though. Are you two up for it in the morning?"

Both of them nodded. "It's not like I have anything better to do," they said together.

Jerks.

* * *

**[Ruka]**

The waitress came back once again with our food, much to our relief.

"Itadakimasu!" we chorused.

Natsume, Youichi, and I had all ordered steaks. Minoru and Imai on the other hand… The three of us sweat dropped at the display in front of us. How did they order all of that? I didn't even see them tell the waitress what they wanted!

Minoru had three plates in front of him consisting of salad, some kind of pasta with chicken, and a rather large burger. Imai's plethora of food was even more impressive. He had a salad, lobster tail with mashed potatoes, a tall stack of pancakes with fruit and whipped cream, and crab roe. I don't think that last one was even on the menu…

I looked at the two of them incredulously. "Can you two really eat _all_ of that?" As soon as the question left my mouth I wished it had stayed in my head. The both of them glared ferociously at me, as if daring me to question them further. I wasn't really bothered by Minoru so much as Imai. He had all of that blackmail material after all.

Natsume it seems had no such qualms. He stared right at Minoru with a blank expression. "Can you finish that? I had no idea you were such a pig." Well, at least that wasn't directed at Imai. He would have been shot for sure.

The brunette froze. He glared at Natsume and looked like he was going to say something. Instead, he held his tongue and attacked his food with a vengeance. Natsume smirked before turning his attention to his own food. Youichi and I followed his example.

"Nogi."

I froze with my fork halfway to my mouth. Nervously, I smiled at Imai. "Yes?" I asked.

His violet eyes seemed to pierce into my soul making it hard for me to breathe. I was so distracted by his eyes that I missed his question. I shook my head to try to clear it. "Yes?" I repeated.

Imai's smile was so razor sharp it was like looking a shark in the face. He knew I was paying him little to no mind. This could lead to nothing good. "Thank you for agreeing to come to my lab tomorrow morning. At eight o' clock sharp. It will be fun."

My heart plummeted.

* * *

**[Sumire]**

The two of us had finished our dinner and were now just sitting back and chatting. I looked over to Mikan and Hotaru's table. "The atmosphere over there is looking kind of tense," I mused.

My date turned his head in their direction and started laughing. "Man, you could cut it with a knife."

I fought the bubble of laughter that threatened to escape and was proud of myself when I quelled it. "Anyway, in answer to your question, my parents own a beauty products company. You might have heard of it since it's my last name."

Yome tilted his head in thought. "Hmm, I think that's the brand that Natsume's twin sister uses. Do you plan on taking over the company when you're older?"

"Well, I could run it now if I wanted. I'm perfectly capable. My parents and older brother are doing just fine right now though. I want to focus on my education and then go into the fashion industry to design clothes for a while. I would have to go back and take over the company eventually. My brother has his own ambitions and I do not see him sticking with the company for the rest of his life."

He smiled encouragingly. "I bet you would do great. I can see your name going far and wide."

I immediately blushed. "Thank you. What do your parents do?"

"Well, my mom has a successful fortunetelling business. My dad is a photographer."

My eyes widened. "No wonder you're so good at reading people."

Yome reached up and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I guess so," he said. He suddenly looked at the front window. "Who is that? She's giving me the creeps."

I followed his gaze and saw a familiar girl. It was dark outside now, but she was close enough to the window that I could see her face. I pursed my lips. "If I am not mistaken that is the leader of Natsume's fan club."

"Ah, so nothing out of the ordinary."

"She is a nasty piece of work," I said scathingly. Yome raised his eyebrow at me. I had the decency to blush. "She reminds me of how I used to be, except she's a lot worse." Looking over at Mikan's table, it did not seem like any of them had noticed the girl. They were all absorbed in their tension.

"Well, she's gone now. I feel much better," Yome said gratefully.

I nodded with agreement. We quickly forgot about the girl and continued on with our evening.

Yome is such a great guy.

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**Read and review please~! [1/13/14]**

I gave Koko and Sumire a lot of love in this chapter. They deserved it.

I hope you guys like the story so far!


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